Jade
by Maerlyn of Miria
Summary: A teen-age girl and her younger sister find themselves involved in a conflict that spans multiple universes following a series of attacks by their abusive Stepfather, a conflict that threatens not only their survival, but that of all worlds.
1. Chapter 1 Robert's Venom Unleashed

Author's Note:

This story is a collaboration between me and a friend who also frequents as jade20101980, who has been blocked on the story since approximately 1996 or so. We began working together on it a little over a year ago, and it started becoming what it clearly wanted to be, a companion to what I call the Multiverse series, some of which is already posted elsewhere on as Beyond The Tower and Ghost Dog.

The characters of Mark and Alison, met in the Multiverse series, appear here as well, but they are younger, haven't yet experience much in the way of supernatural events, but are still not your normal, run of the mill couple.

The first-person narration is a new style for me, and is a bit more difficult than third-person, but as you, dear reader, will see, it fits this story, and is giving me an opportunity to branch out in writing style, if not necessarily material of choice.

The chapters here are a bit shorter than I'm used to writing or posting, but the speed with which this story is gathering momentum, if I waited until the usual chapter length was reached, God knows what all will have taken place.

Well, enough of the notes. On to the story.

End of Author's Note.

I ran into the house as quickly as I could, wanting to get my chores and homework done before Robert returned from wherever he had ventured, so I could bail. I mused; the taskmaster was off buying beer or some other form of hard liquor, or maybe even some of the occasional drugs he used, like, for example, his favored pain killers.

I'd just finished my chores and was in the process of starting my homework when I heard the front door slam. I heard Robert stumbling around in the hallway below. I hoped he was too drunk to think of me, but on this dark, savage night, the fates had other plans, and he called up the stairs.

"Jade, honey, are you home?"

I didn't know what to do or what to say, if anything. The thought of not answering him briefly crossed my mind, but I knew that wouldn't work because he could see my car in the driveway, so I called back.

"Yes, Robert, I'm here," all the while trying to keep my voice from trembling.

"Good, baby, why don't you come down here and play with me for a while," he taunted.

"I can't tonight, Robert. Homework's calling and I do have a softball game to play," I responded.

"Oh, come on, baby, take a break from all that work and come down and play with me for a while," he said, trying to sound seductive, but it came out sounding lude and disgusting.

"I really don't have time for all this shit tonight," I said more forcefully.

"Don't you swear at me, young lady!" Robert bellowed as he started up the stairs.

I didn't answer him. What was there to say anyway? And besides, I was trying to figure out how to get away from Robert as he topped the stairs. Unfortunately, there was no place to go. The fire escape was at the other end of the hall, and I couldn't lock my door because the bastard had a key. I just stood there frozen and stunned as Robert walked into my room, wearing nothing but a robe. I briefly hoped he hadn't traumatized the neighbors by wearing it wherever he'd gone. If he had, the whole neighborhood would probably be talking about it soon.

Instinctively, I started backing away but didn't get very far. He reached out and grabbed me as though he weren't drunk at all. He was completely steady on his feet, even though it smelled like he'd been living in a brewery for the last year or so. I was picked up effortlessly, as though I weighed nothing at all. He threw me onto the bed, stripping my clothes off in a frenzy, acting as if he hadn't gotten any in years, which he probably hadn't, or at least in several months, because Tara would only put out when he could get her drunk enough to do so!

I lay there quietly waiting for the right time to make my move. Robert stripped his robe off and started to climb on top of me. Once he was fully exposed, I smashed my knee into his balls as hard as I could.

Suddenly, I was free. Robert fell off the bed, striking his head on the corner of my nightstand and knocking himself out. Even as he was falling, however, he was wheezing and grabbing his balls in pain. Not wasting any time, I jumped up, grabbing my books and clothes and started out of the room.

As I stepped over him, Robert who was semi-conscious now, feebly tried to grab my ankle. I stomped down hard on his hand and bolted out of the room, slamming the bedroom door behind me. Once I was downstairs, I dropped my books just long enough to get dressed. I grabbed everything I'd need and sprinted towards the car.

Throwing my things into the back seat, I quickly pulled out of the driveway, and only then did I glance back. Robert was standing in the frame of his and Tara's bedroom window. And even from my vantage point, he looked bent. I made an inner-executive decision, opting to come home late that night. That's a decision I'll always regret, because maybe, just maybe, something could've been done to stop up-coming events, if I'd simply gone home when I should have.

I made it to softball that night, but didn't play very well. My coach could tell something was wrong, but he knew that trying to help would get him nowhere. long ago, I made it clear to those around me that any help offered, or any encouragement given, would only cause trouble. As the years passed by, Roberts burning anger would be heaped on Leea, with the verbal abuse first, and finally, physical salvoes would be unleashed.

In many cases, most people tried to show sympathy, like a glass of water after a game, or candy, or other small things that could be easily hidden, but no more than that. As stated earlier, I think most knew better.

I left the softball field and drove to a small coffee shop, which I often frequented. I was guided to a far corner table. Once there, coffee was provided, but the women who did this spoke not a word, and I was ignored so-as to finish my homework until the joint closed.

As it turned out, I didn't spend the entire evening alone at my table. Nearly a half hour after I'd first arrived, a man and woman I'd met a relatively short time ago approached and called to me.

"Hey, Jade, mind if we join you?"

"I guess not, Mark," I answered, and he and his girlfriend Alison seated themselves opposite me. Mark was a tall, dark haired man with blue eyes, the physical opposite of Alison, who stood no more than four feet, six inches tall. As they seated themselves, I noticed Mark waiting till Alison had situated herself before sitting down, after which, he took her hand.

"What are you doing here so late?" Alison asked.

"And what the hell's wrong?" Mark contributed, "you look like this is one crappy night."

"it's Robert," I answered, not knowing why I trusted them so much, but needing to tell someone.

"What did the great lord Asshole do this time?" Mark asked.

"He just made it plane that he wanted something a stepfather should never want from his daughter," I answered.

"What the fuck?" Mark began, but stopped himself.

"What kind of fucking sicko...?" Alison inquired.

"He's just Robert," I answered, "he was always a dick."

"Yeah, but this Jerry Springer bullshit?" Mark burst out, "I thought that shit only happened in armpit Mississippi."

"Where the hell?" Alison asked.

"Never mind," Mark answered, "but seriously, Jade, you'd better watch yourself, I mean physically watch yourself. Furthermore, I'd check your car as soon as possible for anything that could be a listening device."

"You think...?" I began.

"I don't think anything, but I wouldn't put it past someone like him to have you bugged," Mark replied, "as a matter of fact, I'll be over as soon as possible to give your car a once-over. You said you were having problems with it anyway."

"But listening devices?" I asked again, "Robert with access to that kind of technology?"

"They're not that hard to come by," Mark said, "you could get something that would do the job at Radio Shack for fifteen bucks."

"And he probably did," contributed Alison.

"Why would he put listening devices in my car?" I asked.

"Who knows?" Mark said, asking a question and making a statement at the same time, "Who says he needs a reason? But I can come up with a few possibles. For instance, if he pulls something on you and you try to tell someone about it, maybe?"

"That's assuming he gives her enough time to even try telling anyone," Alison said.

Thinking back, it's little wonder that I let the time get away from me. Mark and Alison were easy to talk to, and they seemed to understand what I was going through. I'd only find out later that they not only understood, but had gone through similar things themselves. Mark had had a Mother who would, if she had lived, eventually have finished up either in prison or in an institution, while Alison's' Father was a regular shitbag. Mark bore a scar on his forehead, just above the right eyebrow, given him by his Mother, wielding a piece of broken bottle glass, whilst Alison's face was unmarked, but her emotional scars ran deep.

They had come to the place I called home whilst on the run from not only Alison's Father, but her x boyfriend as well.

Running had been Mark's idea. if it had just been him at risk, he probably would have stood and fought, but he'd had Alison's safety to think about and didn't want to see her burned alive by either man, so they had left Boston and had made a few stops before first meeting me in this very coffee shop nearly two months ago.

I'd discovered very quickly that mark had a knack for fixing cars, even, in some cases, ones that had been pronounced totaled. I'd first made this discovery when I'd had a minor problem with my car and Mark had repaired it at no charge.

Neither of them had taken to either my Mother or Robert. in fact, they had hated them both on sight. When I asked them why during one of our conversations, Mark had merely shrugged and said, "I don't know. Something's off with both of them."

Our conversation turned to other matters, and before I knew it, it was nearly 10:30.

"Oh, shit!" I exclaimed, "I need to get home!"

"If it weren't for the fact that your sister's there," Alison said, "I'd just run if I were you."

"I can't," I answered, "I can't just leave."

"Maybe you should just take her and go," Mark said, "one of these days, that asshole's going to do something more than just try to rape you. Maybe he'll kill someone."

"What?" I asked.

"I mean he's got a temper on him," Mark responded, "I've seen it in his eyes. He only hasn't killed someone yet because the situation hasn't presented itself yet."

"I can't take Leea anyway, as much as I want to," I said, "she's Robert's child."

"So?" Mark asked, "better that than ..."

"They could nail her for kidnapping," Alison said, "unfortunately; the legal system is against her."

"And what will the legal system do when he kills someone?" Mark asked, "still allow him to raise Leea?"

"I certainly hope not," Alison said, "but the system isn't all it's cracked up to be."

"I'd really watch myself if I were you, regardless of whose child Leea is," Mark said as I got up from the table, "mark my words, someone's going to die before all's said and done."

Little did I know that Mark's words would come true all too soon.

When I pulled into the driveway, everything was pitch black. Figuring Robert had passed out drunk, and Leea would be asleep, I slipped quietly into the house, intending to creep upstairs without using lights, as I'd done so often before. But, as I soon realized, the events of that night would alter events forever, and the good fortune that had been my saving angel till then would vanish, and so to would my innocence.

I'd barely crossed half of the foyer when the lights came on, blinding me. Robert stood smugly, not to mention completely sober, in the doorway of the living room.

"I knew you'd come home eventually," Robert sneered at me.

I didn't answer. I just turned around to leave again. Robert waited until I started to turn the door knob before he spoke.

"I wouldn't go out there if I were you," he said.

"Why the hell not?" I demanded.

"Because I have some people out there who'll bring you right back in here," he said, after which, he turned and gestured to a point behind him.

"I have friends in here too."

I watched in complete shock and horror as 3 very large men came out of the living room. They quickly took up positions all around me, so the only way I could go was up the stairs. None of these men were

Under 6 foot 4 inches tall and each weighed well over 220 pounds.

"Go upstairs and strip right now!" Robert commanded. "Don't even try to fight me on this, because if you do, one of my friends will escort you up there, remove your clothes for you, and I won't be the only one to have that sweet pussy tonight."

I lowered my head in submission and defeat, so Robert couldn't see my face. He smiled sweetly at me, that same smug look still on his face. He then turned and started back into the living room.

I waited until Robert's back was fully turned before I made my move. I lunged at the man on my right who seemed to be the weakest of the 3 in an effort to get away. He seemed to be expecting this, however, because he swept me up as if I were a sack of potatoes.

"That wasn't a very smart move, Jade," Robert said, looking at me disapprovingly with ice now in his eyes. "Now we'll have to do this my way."

"Your orders sir?" the man holding me asked.

"Take her upstairs, Eddie, and strip her and tie her to the bed with the other one." Robert told him, his eyes moving lasciviously over my body. "Then you come right back down here, I don't want anyone touching her until we can all be there, and if you're not back in 10 minutes, I'll send someone up after you.

"Yes sir," Eddie said, after which, he directed his attention to me, "don't try struggling with me, it'll only make your situation worse.

Eddie was quick and efficient. He stripped me and got me tied down, and although he wasn't very gentle with the ropes, he was done in a matter of minutes. He stopped and looked at me and Leea, who I now realized was tied down beside me, although they'd left her dressed. After a few minutes, he hurried out the door and turned the lights off, leaving us alone in the dark.

"Jade, is that you?" Leea asked fearfully.

"Yes, it's me. Are you ok? I asked. "Have they hurt you in any way?"

"no, they just tied me up here after I finished my homework and wouldn't tell me why," she said. "they just kept telling me that I had to wait for you. What are they going to do to us?"

"I don't know, honey," I said, protecting her from the truth, and hoping I could find a way to keep them from touching her. Luckily or not for her, Robert had already fixed that, but I didn't know that as we lay there, frightened in the dark.

At the next moment, we heard several sets of foot steps on the stairs. We knew that Robert and his friends were coming. Leea cringed where she was tied beside me.

"It'll be ok," I whispered, trying to reassure her, wishing I could reach out to squeeze her hand, and praying that I was telling the truth.

Suddenly, we were blinded as Robert and his friends came into the room, turning the lights on full, including the ones in the closet and the attached bathroom. They took up positions all around the room, with Robert presiding at the foot of the bed, and the others guarding any possible escape routs.

"I hope you ladies are comfortable," Robert sneered at us.

"Fuck you, You fucking bastard! I spat through clenched teeth.

Robert stepped forward quickly, and as his hand came at my face, I had a momentary vision of an evil and dominant daemon (The Crimson King) hiding behind his eyes, but then the pain of his strike across my face broke through. I tasted blood in my mouth and felt it run down my cheek.

"I won't have that kind of language in front of Leea," Robert warned me.

"But you're planning on doing something even worse than swearing in front of her," I thought but couldn't say.

"Daddy, these ropes are hurting me," Leea piped up from where she lay beside me.

"I know, sweetie, but I need you to stay right here and watch what happens to bad girls," Robert told her, trying to sound soothing as he walked over to stroke her cheek.

"What did I do wrong?" Leea asked innocently as she subconsciously moved her face away from him.

"You didn't do anything, sweetie. Jade did, but I can't have you leaving and miss seeing what we have for your viewing pleasure," Robert told her, returning to the foot of the bed.

"What did she do, and why do I have to be tied down too?" Leea asked, starting to sob.

"She didn't listen to me earlier and that hurt me very badly," Robert told her, glaring at me as he spoke.

"But I always listen to you, and would never do anything to hurt you. Please, these ropes are really hurting me," Leea objected, unable to hold back her tears now.

"All right," Robert said, pointing to one of his men. "Tommy, take her and keep her with you, and make sure she watches everything that happens here tonight. Don't let her leave under any circumstances, and no one, and I mean no one, is to touch her no matter what! And the first one who tries will have both his hands cut off, followed by his dick and balls, and then be thrown in the river, with concrete blocks tied around his wrists and ankles, to bleed out or drown, which ever happens first "

Tommy didn't say a word. He just stepped forward and quickly untied Leea from the bed, refusing to look at me at all, pulling Leea away when she tried to reach out and put a comforting hand on my arm.

"you'll finally be mine, my little angel," Robert said as he stripped off his clothes.

Without saying anything further, he climbed on top of me. He forced his rock hard penis into my dry and virgin vagina. The pain was excruciating. When he finished a minute later, I felt his seamen and my own blood run out of me, forming a gigantic pool all around me.

""Any of you who wants her can have her, since she fought us," Robert said as he got up and redressed. "Just make sure no one, and I mean no one, touches the kid, but I want her to watch everything, so she doesn't make the same mistakes this little cunt did. If the little cunt fights, knock her out, and if the kid fights, tie her to the exercise bar over by the mirror, so she can't get away, and has to see it in the mirror, even if she won't look at it directly."

"Don't worry, she'll see, and you won't have any problems with the cunt after this," Eddie said as he began undoing his belt and unzipping his pants.

As I saw the size of his penis, my throat went dry, and I had to fight to keep from screaming because of the pain I knew it would cause. As it was, I cringed a little, causing the ropes to pull back a bit. Eddie's penis was much larger than Robert's, and I knew it'd hurt much more. In response to my perceived struggle, I was struck hard with something large and metallic over the head, causing memory to resend, till I blacked out cold and violated, never to see life the same way again.


	2. Chapter 2 Aftermath

When I awoke again, 18 hours had passed. I was still naked but untied and alone. I had a massive headache and was sore in both my vagina and asshole. Vaguely, I wondered how many of Robert's friends had raped me.

As the pain registered, a fleeting memory crossed my mind, the memory of a dream or vision I'd had while I'd been unconcious. I'd been standing in a vacant lot in the midst of a city, a vacant lot that had once been the site of a building. I'd looked about and a sign had caught my attention.

"Tom and Jerry's Artistic Delly, Party Platters, Our Specialty."

In the center of the lot, growing from a clump of alien purple grass, I spied a rose, a single wild rose, a rose from which came what seemed to my ears like a soft song composed of trillions of voices singing a vast open cord, but in another moment, the vision was submerged by reality, a reality that seemed to me to be more like a nightmare than any I'd experienced in my sixteen years of life.

I sat up slowly and my bedroom door opened. I immediately pulled my slipping blankets back up. Tommy, the man who'd been holding Leea when I'd been knocked out, came in carrying a tray containing a cup of herbal tea and a bottle of aspirin. He didn't look at me as he set the tray on the table beside the bed. Before I could ask him any questions, he backed out of the room and closed the door, after which, I heard him almost run down the hall.

"Robert wants you downstairs as soon as your cleaned up and dressed," he said as he was leaving.

I looked down at myself and the bed. There was a very large puddle of blood, along with seamen, and worse yet, my vagina was red and extremely irritated. I couldn't see my asshole from my current position, but I was sure it looked no better. I drank the herbal tea with 4 aspirin and headed off to take a shower, even though part of me was telling the rest that that'd be a very bad mistake, especially if Robert and his friends ever finished up being caught.

I made the water as hot as I dared, all the while, scrubbing myself until my skin was red and starting to blister. Once finished, I put lotion on, making sure it was non-scented, and went back into my room to get dressed.

Immediately, I could tell someone had been snooping around in my absence. The tea tray was gone and the sheets and blankets had been changed and hauled away. I wondered if whoever had carried out that particular clean up operation had watched me in the shower. However, visions of Leea alone and helpless downstairs with Robert, forced me to forego any further thoughts of personal well-being. Thinking of her was enough to break my heart and make me forget how I felt physically. All I knew was that suddenly, with a sense of urgency, she needed me, and right then, a jolt of wild fury was sparked. The embers were those of rage and burning hatred at the man who called himself my stepdad.

When I reached the kitchen, Robert and Leea were just sitting down to dinner. Robert had made soup and sandwiches, the preparation of said items being the extent of his cooking ability. As I sat down grateful that I wouldn't have to cook, Robert set a bowl of soup in front of me. He then went back to fixing something in a glass on the counter while I thanked god that it was almost impossible to fuck up soup.

"What the hell happened last night?" I asked, to see if Robert would answer and what he'd say.

"You started to struggle, so Eddie had to knock you out," Robert said matter of factly, setting the glass, the contents of which he'd been mixing on the table in front of me.

"What's this?" I asked suspiciously.

"It'll help your headache," he replied.

"Ok, but what is it?" I asked again.

"just drink it," Robert said irritably and in a tone of voice I knew only spelled trouble if I didn't comply.

I instinctively did as asked. Every drop burned whilst going down, but it seemed to help. Nonetheless, I detected traces of alcohol in it. I watched Leea as I slowly ate my soup. She picked at her food with the look of someone who wasn't very hungry, but didn't dare disobey the taskmaster, was terrified of everything around her, and worse yet, she looked thoroughly exhausted.

When Leea excused herself minutes later, I went back to my normal after dinner routine. Once the dishes were done, I took some more aspirin and went to put Leea down for the night.

When I reached her room, I found her curled up on her bed, sobbing violently. It took me a few minutes to convince her it was me, and that I wouldn't hurt her. Once she'd calmed down enough, I scooped her up.

"What's wrong? Are you ok?" I asked, holding off the urge to strip her right there and look. "Did they hurt you last night?"

"No," she sobbed. "I'm just scared," and then she stopped again.

"What are you scared of?" I prompted gently.

"I'm afraid those men will come back and hurt you again," she said.

"Did they hurt you at all last night?" I asked again to be sure.

"No, But Robert told me if I didn't do absolutely everything he wanted, he'd do what he did to you and let them do it too," she said and shivered violently.

I stared down at my baby sister, hating Robert even more for his threats against her. He'd already taken her innocents by his actions the night before, and now he wanted her submission. She'd more than likely have nightmares about the things she'd seen for the rest of her life. Robert had destroyed something Leea could never get back. I cradled her close, wishing I could take back everything from the night before.

How many were there?" I asked, not certain I wanted to know.

"I'm not really sure," she admitted, tears threatening to start again

"Ok. We better get you into bed before Robert comes to check on you," I said, starting to pull the blankets back.

"Will you stay with me?" She asked.

Before I could answer, the door flew open and Robert stormed in. He glared angrily at me as though my mere presence pissed him off.

"What the hell's going on in here!" He demanded.

"I was just tucking Leea in," I explained, trying to stay calm for her sake, and subconsciously putting my body between her and him.

"Why the fuck wasn't she in bed already, you incompetent, fucking bitch!" He shouted. "Her bed time was fifteen goddamn minutes ago!"

"I was trying to calm her down, so she doesn't have anymore nightmares, fuck rod!" I shouted back, letting my anger come through full force.

Ignoring me, he ripped Leea away and threw her onto the bed. "if your not competent enough to fucking do it, I'll do it myself!" he shot back.

"I can do it," I said, trying to calm down.

"What you can do is get the fuck out of here, go finish your chores, and leave me the fuck alone! He shouted, grabbing me by the shoulders and shoving me backwards out of the room.

I flew backwards and slammed into the wall across the hall from Leea's room, falling hard to the floor, but forced myself up, when I heard Leea scream in terror from behind me.

"Shut up, bitch!" Robert shouted, his anger seemingly directed at her, picking her up off the bed, and belting her as hard as he could across the face.

I stood in the doorway in shock as Leea went limp in Robert's arms. She was unconscious, but I wasn't sure if it was from fear, or the force of the slap. Thanks to that realization, a jolt of terror shot down my spine. He saw me in the mirror over the dresser and threw Leea's limp body back onto the bed. He shattered the mirror and then came back a crossed the room and grabbed me by the hair.

"I told you to get the fuck out of here and go get your chores done right now, slut!" He shouted, shoving me out of the room and down the hall. "Wasn't last night enough to teach you to listen? Does more need to be done?"

Suddenly, he let go and I flew back, slamming into the wall across from the stairs. I was just barely able to keep from spiraling downwards.

"If you don't have your fucking chores done before I get your sister into bed," he snarled at me, "I'll beat you like the worthless Knut you are, and don't ever mouth back to me again! Now get your ass moving." With no trace of love, he picked me up from where I had landed.

Despite the pain I was in, I manage to get my chores done. It took 4 hours and, as you might've guessed, I did get a beating for not doing it in the time specified. As I drifted off that night, I felt bruised, beaten and broken inside a feeling that was only magnified as I thought of my younger sister. Those images carried over into my dreams, dreams of a childhood gone bad, of innocence lost in a flash, though the dreams seemed to go on in super slow-motion. At times, I saw us playing, interspersed with smacks, loud voices, and all the while, a deep pain for some semblance of a real, loving father.

Then the dreams changed, and I was once again in the vacant lot, at the center of which grew the rose. I again heard the song, a song which, at first, seemed to contain no words, but as I listened, I heard a billion interconnected stories, all woven into one. I reached forward, and the rose opened to me, but before I could touch it, the light dimmed, the sun itself seemed to vanish from the sky, replaced by a single, open, staring red eye.

"Eye of the king. Abbalah, Abbalah-doon, Can-tah Abbalah, Ram Abbalah, Sheol Munshun. The King is in his tower, eating bred and honey. The Breakers in the basement, making all the money."

When I awoke the next morning, reality returned with a vengeance. Robert was in the doorway screaming at me.

"Shut that fucking alarm off right now!"

"Sorry, Robert," I mumbled, and reached over to switch it off.

"You better haul ass and get Leea to school on fucking time, oh worthless one!" He shouted. "She's already missed one day of school because of you, and if she has to miss another, I'll punish you again."

I didn't correct him. I simply got up and dressed as quickly as my bruised and beaten body would allow. When I reached Leea's room, she was already dressed and waiting, concern written all over her little face.

"Are you ok?" She asked, looking around to make sure Robert couldn't hear her.

"Yes, honey. Just a little sore," I told her, trying to force a smile through the pain.

"Why did he do that?" She asked.

"because the chores weren't done by your bedtime. Also, it gives him insatiable pleasure to do it," I told her, and gasped in shock, realizing just how much I'd unententionally told her.

"How'd he expect you to move very fast, when even I could see you had a concussion?" She asked, indignantly, ignoring the rest of what I'd said.

"I don't know that one, but I _do know we'd better get downstairs so he doesn't freak out again," I said.

"All right, sissy, let's go," she said, taking my hand as carefully as she could without hurting me.

We walked into the kitchen a minute later. Robert was drinking coffee and reading his paper, all the love directed at what lay in front of him. Seeing us, he glared back, love gone, replaced with a hatred so deep, no words could ever convey the feeling.

"Good morning, Robert," I said, trying to sound cheerful.

"You don't have time for any breakfast, so get your asses out the fucking door right now!" He shouted in response.

"Go give Robert a kiss, Leea," I said, pushing her towards him.

She went to him reluctantly, but he wasn't having any of it, shoving her back so hard, I had to step forward to catch her and prevent her from falling.

"I don't have time for the shit you call love!" He shouted. "Get your asses moving right now! Jade, you better make sure she's to school on time, and as soon as you get home, you'd be wise to get the goddamn groceries!"

"Yes, Robert," I answered, guiding a trembling Leea towards the front door, so as to avoid further trouble. If I'd only known the trouble that was to come, maybe I would've left; taking her away, never looking back.

"I mean it, jade!" Robert yelled after us as we hurried away. "If she's even 1 fucking minute late, you'll deal with me, and I'll beat your ass!" There wasn't any doubt he meant it.

I didn't even answer him, I just guided Leea out the door and let it slam behind us, knowing it would only fuel his anger, and that I'd probably pay for it later. We both threw our books into the back seat, and jumped into the car. As we pulled out of the driveway, I motioned Leea to stay quiet.


	3. Chapter 3 Elements Of Untruth

When we were about 2 blocks away from the house, I stopped the car and began doing what Mark had suggested I do during our conversation a couple nights before. I located something that shouldn't have been thre after only a couple minutes, reached under the dash and pulled out a device about the size of a cigarette pack, held it in my closed fist for a moment, slowed the car at the nearest corner, and threw it into a garbage can, after wrapping it in a bit of junk I hadn't cleaned out of the car until then. I smiled at Leea as I rolled up the window and continued driving.

"We can talk safely now," I told her.

"What was that?" Leea asked, showing interest in something for the first time since I'd been raped, other than the son of a bitch who called himself a father.

"It was a listening device Robert uses to hear what we say," I explained.

"could he see us too?" she asked, her eyes brightening in excitement, but not the good kind.

"I'm not sure if that came equipped with a camera or not," I answered. Seeing her face, I decided to attempt to divert her from whatever it was she was thinking, considered for a moment, decided on commenting on something we were both hearing through the window.

"Damn Canus Yapperonnus!" I said, utilizing a phrase Mark had used on a couple occasions, referring to a dog barking outside, one that sounded like it was the size of a rat, no larger.

"cool, how'd you know what to look for, and what'll he hear now?" Leea asked, smiling at my reference to the dog out there as a Canus Yapperonnus at the same time.

""Until a trash truck picks it up and the crusher destroys it, he'll hear the sounds of traffic going up and down the street, and that Canus Yapperonnus out there," I said, as we pulled up in front of her school, "and as for how I knew it was there, a friend told me what to look for. Now, sweetie, you better go before your late."

Leea grabbed her books from behind the seat. Leaning over, she gave me a quick kiss on the cheek, got out of the car, and ran across the parking lot. Once she was on the sidewalk, I raced off to my own school, making it with 2 minutes to spare, not noticing that I was being followed. That, I would only find out later.

Once I was safely parked, I grabbed my books and ran towards the entrance. I was about halfway down the sidewalk to the front door, when a black car pulled up in the street along side me, and the window was rolled down.

"Jade. Can I talk to you for a minute?" A man asked through the open window.

"I really don't have time right now," I said, wondering how he knew my name, but in too much of a hurry to ask. "I'm already running late."

"It's about your stepfather, Robert," The man called back.

"If you're friends with Robert, I definitely don't want to deal with you," I said, speeding up my pace and trying to get to the door, which in my frantic mind, wasn't getting any closer.

"I'm not his friend. I want to put him in the slammer," he said, keeping pace with me easily.

""Why should I believe you, and why exactly should I care? You have nothing to do with me." I said, a feeling of apprehension and exasperation starting to creep into the bakc of my mind.

The man didn't answer. He just held his arm out the window, revealing a badge which easily caught the light.

"If you'll just get into the car, we can talk," he said.

"I'll be late for school, and anyway, I don't know you, and I especially don't know what you want," I said. "on top of that, I don't need myself or my little sister getting punished because somebody who's got a badge I can't even read from here wants to talk."

"We already have that worked out with the school, and as for what I want, it involves any information you might have that would put that son of a bitch we've been chasing for almost 2 years in jail," he told me.

I looked around to make sure no one was watching, and that Robert hadn't had anyone follow me. Then, I cautiously opened the back door of the car and stepped inside. The doors automatically locked once closed, and even though this slightly disconcerted me, I just ignored my apprehension, which I shouldn't have done, something I'd come to regret all too soon.

"I know about what happened to you the other night," he said as we pulled away from the school.

"How do you know about that?" I demanded, starting to get frightened, all the alarm bells inside my head belatedly going off.

Again, he didn't answer. He simply pulled aside the privacy glass that had hidden me from him and prevented me from seeing him. I sat there in stunned shock as Tommy, the man who had held Leea, looked back at me.

"You were there," I finally stammered, wondering if I should try to get away, and if this man was who he said he was. Also, what would he do if I tried to fight or run? Knowing I had very little chance of escape, even though we were currently cruising down a public street, I opted to learn as much as I could from him.

"Yes, I work for the FBI and we have infiltrated Robert's circle of friends," he explained, producing papers to supposedly prove himself. I know now that all the proper information was lacking, but he knew I was naive and counted on my being so. "We think he's dealing drugs with some very serious criminals. Our ultimate goal is to catch him at it."

"What can I do to help?" I asked, eager to finally have what I perceived as an big stick to use against Robert, even if I wasn't sure I could completely trust it.

"Write down and/or tape everything you see or hear that you deem to be important," he explained.

"I don't have the resources to do that," I told him

"You can use these," he said, handing me a bag with everything I would need, including tapes, paper, pens, etc.

"How do I keep from getting caught?" I asked.

"Just use your own judgment," he said.

"What about the rape?" I asked.

Before he could answer, the radio mounted on the dash crackled and a man's voice came out.

"Tommy, it's Eddie, and I need your help!" the voice frantic and panicky.

"What's wrong, Eddie?" Tommy asked, trying not to sound exasperated.

"I got the little one, but she's flipping out and I don't know how to stop her," the voice rising in fear. "I'm afraid she's gonna draw a crowd, and how will we explain that."

"Where are you?" Tommy asked, putting the car in gear.

"I'm at the park, about a block from her school," Eddie answered, and I could hear Leea yelling hysterically in the background about how what they were doing was gonna get me punished, to take her back to school right now, or she'd hurt him, run off, and find help.

"Ok, we'll be right there," Tommy said, flooring the accelerator and pealing out into traffic.

When we arrived at the park, Eddie had Leea restrained in the picnic area. As soon as I was out of Tommy's car, she broke free of Eddie and ran sobbing hysterically into my arms.

"What's wrong?" I asked, stepping away from Tommy so we could talk.

"Both of those men raped you," She sobbed.

"I know, honey, they had to. They're FBI agents and they didn't want to blow their cover," I explained, doubting every word and knowing full well we'd found some more trouble. I just didn't know what it was yet.

"They're not FBI agents because real agents wouldn't do what they're doing," she argued, and I knew she was right.

"I've seen Tommy's badge," I argued, trying to be reasonable with her.

"I don't care if they have badges," she said. "Their not FBI or anyone else who can help us, and for all we know, Robert did this so you wouldn't get me to school so he could hurt you again."

"I'll check into it. In the meantime, do what they say, write and tape stuff. It could help somewhere else later with real cops and other people," I told her, not knowing how right I'd be.

"All right, but promise you'll check into it?" she asked.

"I promise," I said, holding her close and never dreaming that it was a promise I wouldn't be able to keep.

"We better get you girls back to school," Tommy said, but as he approached us, I felt Leea stiffen beside me.

"Ok, but I'm not going with Eddie," Leea said stubbornly.

"Yes you are," I said, pushing her towards him, even though I didn't want her with him either. But I somehow knew if we showed any visible distrust of these men, we wouldn't leave this park alive, and I had a feeling our deaths would be the most painful things that could happen to anyone. I'd do anything in my power to protect Leea, even if it meant dying myself.

"We're going in opposite directions," I told her to cover for us.

"Ok," she said reluctantly. "But if he does anything at all I don't like, I'll go find help and tell on him."

"Miss, My job is to get you back to school. Nothing more," Eddie said, but I could tell he was more afraid of me than anything Leea could possibly tell anyone, or maybe it was Tommy, I didn't know, and right then, I didn't much care.

"ok, but right now, don't tell anyone about what happened the other night," I said softly, hoping they couldn't hear what I was telling her.

"I won't," she said, giving me a "what, do you take me for stupid?" look, and then sulkily, getting into Eddie's car.

We waited until Eddie drove away with Leea before leaving the park. Once we returned to my school, I had Tommy stop by my car so I could put the 2 bags and the business card we had been given into it. He then pulled up to the sidewalk by one of the less used entrances, so as not to be seen.

"Just remember, in front of Robert, you don't know either of us, and the same goes for Leea," he said.

"I don't tell Robert anything more than I have to, and Leea doesn't know much of anything, especially lately, so don't worry about her," I said, stepping onto the sidewalk. "As far as anyone else is concerned, I never saw you before in my life, but what do I tell the school? They'll want an explaination as to why I'm so late."

"You tell them you had a flat and had to get it replaced," he said. "your car will reflect that."

"Ok. I'll call you if I get anything," I said, slammed the car door shut, and walked away, knowing we'd meet again soon, and that it wouldn't be pleasant when we did.

As I approached the door to the school, a voice spoke from behind me.

"Who was the spook in the black car?"

I turned and saw Mark.

"He said he was FBI," I answered, "and by the way, i'm going to put a fucking bell on you one of these days. You scared the living shit out of me!".

"FBI my fucking left nut," Mark said, ignoring the comment about bells, "since when do FBI agents take teen-age girls to school? And what the fuck happened to you? Alison and I dropped over to your house a couple nights ago to look your car over and heard what sounded like screams, but we couldn't get in. We were half tempted to call the cops, but our fucking cell phones wouldn't work. You must be in one hell of a dead zone. We couldn't even find a way in through a basement window, as the damn things are the secure kind someone couldn't break through unless they had a tank or something like one."

I explained what had happened as briefly as I could.

"I've got to get into school now," I finished.

"You really need to watch yourself," Mark called after me, "Maybe you need to involve someone else, and I don't mean fake FBI agents."

"Who'd believe me?" I asked, "I showered when I woke up. I probably washed away any evidence left behind."

"Not if they all had a go at you," Mark returned, "there's no way to get rid of that much. Furthermore, there's probably evidence lying around somewhere in the house itself. you said they had you tied. I doubt like hell either Robert or any of his goons had the common sense to get rid of the ropes. They probably just threw them into the cellar or something."

"Even if they all had a go at her," Alison contributed, causing Mark's face to fall, "a shower would have gotten rid of it all."

"Why'd you have to rain on that particular parade?" Mark asked with a half smile.

"If anyone tried running a rape kit," Alison said, "there'd be no evidence since she showered. I found that out from various cop shows my Dad had a habit of watching."

"And who'd look for evidence?" I asked, "it's not as if anyone would believe me apart from you and Alison."

"Give me half a chance and I'd certainly do it. I'd rip that house down around King Fuckhead's ears if I had to," Mark replied as the door shut behind me.

When I walked into my class, my teacher didn't even say anything about me being late. She noted my bruised body, and with a sympathetic look that felt as real as a three-dollar bill, motioned me to my seat and continued her lesson.

I spent the rest of the day hearing other students whispering and seeing them giving me sympathetic looks until the teacher finally sent me to the library, so I could get the homework done for the following day.

When I got home that night, I went into the kitchen to get the grocery list and the money that went with it. The list was there, but the money wasn't. I sighed heavily, knowing more trouble loomed. Even more daunting was the thought of having to ask Robert for anything, much less money. Faced with no alternative, I strutted towards his room.

"Robert, I need to talk to you," I called out softly, reluctant to touch him as he was lying in the middle of the bed he and Tara shared, covered in vomit from drinking too much again.

Getting no immediate response, this only made me angrier still, so I screamed at him this time.

"Robert! wake the fuck up. I need to talk to you right now!"

He snapped awake and that's when I noticed the floor, covered in brand new toys of all types, for Leea. That made me even angrier.

"Don't you fucking scream at me, and why aren't you gone to get the goddamn groceries?" He shouted back.

"Because there's no money to get them with," I said, trying to keep my voice calm.

"Go ask Tara for more," he said, as if she made millions at a time, "why the fuck are you bothering me?"

"You spent all the grocery money she already gave you?" I asked incredulously.

"Yes I did. Leea needed some new toys to make up for what she had to watch the other night, because of you," he said, emphasis added on the last 3 words. "Now, put those clothes and blankets into the washer before you call your mother!"

"We should just return the toys," I said, shoving the repulsive mess that'd started the day as a bed spread into a trash bag to take in to the washer downstairs, this being made possible by his rising from the bed and allowing said mess to nearly finish up on the bedroom floor.

"Like hell we will!" He shouted, slamming the bathroom door in my face.

I hurried down stairs to start the washer, all the while dreading the call I knew was impossible to avoid. Once back upstairs, I pulled a notebook from my bag, and dialed her work number. Her boss, Jerry, answered on the first ring. Throughout the conversation, I carefully took everything down that I could, as per Tommy's instructions.

"Hello," he said hesitantly, and all my alarm bells went off, because he never answered the phone unless Tara was on a business trip, and as far as I knew, she wasn't supposed to be on one, as she was very pregnant right now, and Jerry didn't want her to go into labor far from home.

"Jerry, It's Jade. Is my mother there?" I asked.

"No, she's not," he said. "Is there something wrong?"

"Yes. It seems Robert spent all the money we had here at the house, and I was calling to see if she might have some more hidden?" I said.

"I haven't seen her in 3 days," Jerry said reflectively. "Not since she and Robert had that fight in the parking lot."

"What were they fighting about?" I asked, suddenly feeling both curious and frightened.

"Robert was yelling at her about how she doesn't bring in enough money, and about how you were almost out of food," he said. "He was telling her she better get some money fast. He was cussing at her a lot and there were a few times when I thought he was going to hit her."

"What ended up happening after the fight?" I asked, my stomach knotting in fear, and knowing that something was very wrong here.

"She asked for an advance on her pay check and I gave it to her," he said." I was afraid not to."

"Did you give her her whole check? Furthermore, why were you afraid not to give it to her?" I asked.

"Yes, I gave it all to her," He said. "I was afraid that if I didn't he'd hurt her and I couldn't deal with something like that on my conscience."

"What happened after the fight?" I asked. "And did Robert have anyone else with him?"

"Robert forced her to go with him in his truck, and yes, he had 2 very big men with him," Jerry answered. "Those men made my blood run cold. I didn't like them at all."

"Do you know who the men were, and had you ever seen them before?" I asked, my heart accelerating.

"No, I never saw them before and don't want to again. They didn't offer their names," he said. "They were very big and scary looking. I didn't know what might happen if I refused your mother's wishes. They looked like hired thugs, and if that's what Robert's into, then I pray for your mother and you kids."

"Ok, Thanks, jerry," I said softly.

"I hope something I've told you helps you find your mother," Jerry said sincerely.

"I'm not sure now, but thanks," I said and hung up, the fear knotting more in my stomach with each passing moment.

I quickly put the written conversation into my lock box and made sure it was secure before I headed out to find Robert. He was in the living room, surrounded by all the toys he had purchased that day for Leea. He glared up at me as I came into the room.

"Did you get hold of your mother?" he asked, turning the inquiry into a demand.

"No, but I talked to Jerry, and he says the last time he saw her, she was leaving with you," I told him.

"yes, and I dropped her off at the airport," he said, keeping his eyes turned so I couldn't see them.

I didn't need to. because the last thing I'd done before leaving my room was called all the travel agencies and airlines my mother had used, and none had sent her anywhere. I stated my findings to Robert.

"That jerry is probably covering for her then," he said. "Don't you know she's fucking him?"

"That's between you and her," I said evenly. "Right now we need food in this house."

"Do whatever you have to," he said, his voice taking on a note of resignation and a refusal to budge.

Thinking he actually meant what he said, I once more proposed the idea of us taking the toys back. His response was another resounding no, and a threat of further punishment if I refused to listen and brought it up again.

"Ok, then I'm calling Chris," I said.

"You do that," he sneered, "but your responsible for him and he better not interfere with anything I'm doing here."

"It'll be taken care of," I said flatly, and quickly walked out, to keep my anger from boiling over, something detrimental for both Leea and me.

Chris was my grandfather on my dad's side of the family. I hated to call him, but Robert had left me no choice this time. My father had died 4 years before, and Chris was all I had left. I knew if anyone could help, it was him, and he'd get to the bottom of whatever it was, no matter what he had to do. Robert hated him because he was part of my mother's past, and he proved it by being as hateful as possible to Chris whenever he was around, but this time, that might work to my advantage because, in anger, Robert might say something that could be used against him.

"Hello," Chris answered on the first ring.

"Chris, it's Jade. Have you seen my mother?" I asked, sure I knew the answer already.

""No, I haven't. She doesn't come around much since she married that Robert," he said. "Why? Is something wrong?"

"Robert squandered all the money we had on new toys for Leea, and we can't find my Mother," I explained.

"That child doesn't need anymore new toys," he said, exasperation evident in his voice, "I'll be there in 2 hours."

"Thanks, Chris," I said, feeling some relief for the first time in several days.

"You're welcome, jade." He said and hung up the phone

I straightened myself up a little and then headed downstairs to tell Robert. While I was gone, he had called the police to report Tara missing. I saw 2 officers in the living room, and Leea in the doorway glaring in at them. As soon as I stepped into the hallway, she ran to me.

"Tell me it isn't true!" She demanded, clinging to me hysterically.

"Tell you what isn't true?" I asked, catching her and holding her close to me.

"That mom isn't really gone?" She asked, starting to sob.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, because she is," I said softly, trying to hold on to her.

Leea broke out of my arms, sobbing, and ran off. I didn't even try to go after her, because I knew she needed to cry it out, so she could clear her head.

"I think we have all we need for now," One of the police officers said, and he and his fellows hurriedly left

I stepped into the living room. Robert was sitting in his chair, crying softly. Whether he truly didn't know what his friends might have done, or whether the tears were of remorse, or weather or not they were even real, I don't know.

"I called Chris," I told Robert, almost feeling sorry for him, but then remembered everything he had done to me, after which, the sorrow vanished from my heart as if it'd been snuffed out like a candle in a strong wind.

"You take care of him," He said, his voice full of what I suppose he hoped was despair. "This better not interfere with our schedules here."

"I'll deal with it," I said, and in that moment, finished the job of closing my heart to his emotions. After all, he'd not given a damn about either mine or Leea's emotions when he and his friends had done to us what they'd done.

I walked quickly out of the room to go looking for Leea. I was confused, but realized that Robert was trying to make it appear as if, in his own twisted way, he did love my mother. Whether he was acting or not, I still couldn't tell, but my money was on the possibility that he was. Leea was in the spare bedroom, stripping the dirty sheets off the bed. Her eyes were red from crying.

Chris will be here soon," I said, reaching out in an attempt to soothe her.

She shrank away, so I started helping her clean instead. We had only been working a few minutes when the door bell rang. I hurried to answer it, expecting it to be Chris, but it was Tommy.

"How may I help you?" I asked.

"Come with me, I'm here to take you to your play practice," he said, ignoring me and speaking to Leea, who I hadn't realized had followed me.

She picked up her bag from the table beside the door without saying a word or protesting in any way. I went back and continued cleaning the room. As I was finishing up, the door bell rang again. I ran downstairs to answer it.

"Hello, Chris," I said, hugging him fiercely.

"Are you ok?" He asked, looking at me critically.

"Doing just fine," I said, as Robert came up behind me and I passed Chris a "talk later" look.

"Hello, Chris," Robert said coldly.

Chris returned the greeting with equal hostility.

"You better not interfere with me and my children in any way," Robert warned Chris.

"I won't, as long as you aren't abusing them," Chris said evenly. "Jade, help me get these bags upstairs so we can get you to the store," he added, stepping passed Robert and heading up the stairs.

I picked up the remaining bag and followed him up to the guest room. Robert was still standing in the hall when we came back down about 2 minutes later.

"You better be home in time to take care of Leea," Robert called after us as we descended the porch steps.

"I'll try to have her home," Chris called back as we got into his car.

We drove away before Robert could respond. Chris then looked more carefully at me.

"What's really going on back there?" Chris asked.

"He beat and raped me and he finally hit Leea," I said, and broke down in tears for the first time since everything had happened.

"We're getting you the fuck out of there tonight!" He shouted, slamming on the breaks and causing the driver of the truck behind us to blow their horn and flip him the bird.

"We can't leave," I said.

"And why not?" He asked.

"Because we're working with the FBI," I explained, trying to weave the illusion I needed to weave to justify not being able to take my sister away. And, after all I'd seen at home, it left little room for the chances of a grand escape from Robert's demonic clutches. I didn't mention Mark, although if I had, I'd have found out that Chris already knew him and Alison.

"What does the FBI have to do with this?" He asked in disbelief.

"They think he's dealing drugs," I said, repeating the lie we'd been told.

"I hope they can catch him, because I want to see him go down," Chris said. "However, I'll tell you now; Robert doesn't have the intelligents to deal drugs, so those people aren't from the FBI. But, until he does something in front of me, I can't do anything about this. Believe me though, the first time he does, he's gonna wish he hadn't."

"I wish I could have done something about what he and his friends did," I said. "What's more, he made Leea watch the rape."

I was glad we'd stopped in the parking lot of the store this time, because if we hadn't, I think Chris would've crashed the car in his anger.

When we got home 2 and a half hours later, Robert was waiting at the door for us. He glared directly at me as we ascended the steps.

"Where the hell have you been?" he demanded.

"I told you we were going to get groceries," I said defensively.

"Leea has to be in bed in 15 minutes, and she hasn't eaten or bathed yet!" Robert shouted at me.

"I'm sorry," I said in fear, lowering my eyes to the floor.

"Why didn't you feed her and make sure she bathed herself?" Chris asked. "You are her father, aren't you?

"Go take care of your fucking sister right now!" Robert shouted at me, ignoring Chris, grabbing me by the hair, and shoving me towards Leea, who was cowering in the living room.

"Yes sir," I said, hurrying towards her and pulling us back out of the line of fire.

"As for you," Robert said, rounding on Chris, "I told you not to interfere with what I'm doing here.. and you should know, being a man, that it's a woman's job to take care of your house and children."

"You just say that so you don't have to get off your ass!" Chris shouted.

"I've had enough of your interference! "Get your shit and get the fuck out of my house!" Robert shouted, attempting to break hither-to unsuspected sound barriors.

"If I go, I'm taking the children with me," Chris said evenly.

"you aren't taking my children from me!" Robert screamed at a volume that seemed loud enough to shatter eardrums five miles away.

"Jade isn't your child," Chris reminded him, "and Leea's only yours when it's convenient for you to claim her.

"Go with him, slut," Robert said at a more normal volume, coming into the living room, grabbing me, and shoving me at Chris, making it necessary for him to reach out and catch me to keep me from falling.

"Don't you talk about my granddaughter that way," Chris snapped, his voice full of warning and his face starting to redden in rage.

"Why not, it's the truth," Robert said. "She'll sleep with any boy who'll have her, and she's even made passes at me."

Before I could stop him, Chris jumped forward and punched Robert on the right side of his jaw. Robert fell hard on the hall floor, causing an overhead rack holding a small selection of glassware decorations belonging to Tara to come crashing to the floor and shatter.

"Let's go, girls," Chris said, breathing hard with his rage, and barely restraining himself from pounding Robert into the floor.

Robert got up, dusting glass shards out of his hair and jumped between us and Leea. He wrapped his arm around her throat, choking off her air.

"Get the fuck out of here, now, or I'll kill her!" Robert shouted, as I ran for Chris's things, fearing that he'd really do it.

"Robert, be reasonable," Chris said, as Leea's face began to redden from lack of air, and I ran down the stairs, attempting to find a way to get her away from him.

"I mean it, get the fuck out of here!" Robert screamed.

Once we were on the ground at the bottom of the steps, Robert let Leea go. She fell to the floor of the hall, gasping for air. She tried to make her way to us, but Robert grabbed her foot so she couldn't make any headway.

"Go now, before I change my mind!" Robert shouted, and we fled to the car and drove away as fast as we could. Chris pulled the car out of the driveway, attempting to remain in enough control so as not to hurt anyone. I knew then that I'd never see Leea fully alive again. What I didn't know was that when I did se her again, I'd have nightmares for the rest of my life because of what was to come.


	4. Chapter 4 The Storm Breaks

Chris and I worked with the courts tirelessly for 3 days with no results. Finally, late in the afternoon of the third day, Leea called the hotel where we were staying.

"Hello," I answered the phone, hoping it was one of the judges we'd been dealing with.

"Jade, is that you?" Leeas very weak voice asked.

"Yes, Leea," I said quickly so she wouldn't hang up. "What's going on, are you ok?"

I heard Chris's book hit the table in the other room, then the extension was picked up loudly.

"I'm hungry and I need help," she said her voice weakening with every word. "Robert has gone out somewhere," she added, then the phone went dead as if she had dropped it, although we'd learn later that Tara had cut the line to that room of the house, but thankfully, not all of the lines, because we'd need them by the time Robert was done that day.

Chris and I didn't waste any time, but ran directly to his car, seeing Mark and Alison's white over red 58 Fury pulling out as we got in, slammed the doors, and roared out of the parking lot. We raced straight for Robert's house, praying that we wouldn't end up arriving there after he got back from wherever it was he'd gone before Leea had called us. Thankfully he was still gone when we got there though, proving that, sometimes, prayers are actually answered. He hadn't had the intelligents to change the locks, so we used my old key to get in. What we found inside shocked and sickened us both.

We searched every room on the first floor of the house for Leea, and had started on the ones on the second floor before we found her. She was on the floor of Robert and Tara's bedroom, trying to force her swollen and broken finger to redial the phone. Most of her body was covered in bruises, and we could also see that several of her bones appeared to be broken. She looked severely dehydrated and weak, and it was obvious by the weight she'd lost that she hadn't been fed at all.

We worked as quickly as her injuries would allow in getting her onto a makeshift stretcher composed of a matress from the bed in the room that'd once been mine and a spare board from one of the closets, and down the stairs. We laid her carefully on the couch in the living room, and started trying to figure out how we could get her into the car, and to the nearest hospital. Had we been thinking clearly, we'd've just called an ambulance right there, but we were so shocked by what Robert had done, that we waited too long.

Suddenly, Robert slammed through the front door, glaring at us. He was furious to see us there, but he was even more steamed that I'd brought Chris back with me, because he hated him more than he could ever hate me.

"What the fuck are you doing here!" He demanded.

"Leea called us because she needs help," I said indignantly, kneeling close to her and laying a protective hand on her head, but pulling it away when she flinched.

"Why the fuck do you care. You don't live here anymore!" He shouted at me, ignoring

Chris for the moment.

"Just because I don't live here anymore doesn't mean she's not my sister!" I shouted back at him, coming to my feet with both fists clenched on my hips.

"You should've thought about that before you left her here," Robert said to me. "It's your fault that she's like this, because you weren't here to take care of her."

"Don't you ever blame Jade for your beating and starving of Leea!" Chris shouted, speaking up for the first time, and putting a hand on me to keep me from decking Robert.

"You stay out of this, big boy. It doesn't concern you!" Robert shouted at Chris. "Both of you get out of my fucking house!"

"Can't you see she needs fucking medical attention! I shouted, swearing for the first time in front of Chris, and standing my ground in front of Robert, not knowing that it was too late and was only going to make things worse now.

"She wouldn't be like that if you'd been here to take care of her!" Robert shouted, grabbing Leea off the couch before either of us could stop him. He completely ignored the cry of pain from Leea at this swiping motion.

He held her with one arm around her waist and her feet barely touching the floor. I saw her wince in pain when he pulled her upright. Both of her legs were very obviously broken.

"Get the fuck out of here!" He shouted, bringing his other hand, which held a knife, up to her throat. He drew the knife across her throat, causing a thin line of blood to dribble out.

Chris and I started backing down the steps. The feel of her own blood on her throat must've broken Leea's shock, because she swung her arm up at Robert's knife hand and threw her body forward at the same time.

Suddenly, the knife flew out of Robert's hand, and he went off balance, letting go of Leea. She lunged forward onto the porch, reaching for me. But before I could grab her, a recovered Robert was there, jumping in front of her, and pushing her backwards.

As suddenly as it had returned, Leea's strength left her. She fell backward, striking her head hard on the doorframe, and then falling to the concrete floor of the porch. Her head bounced 3 times, and she stopped moving all together. We all watched in shock and horror as a large pool of blood started spreading beneath her head.

Robert dropped to his knees beside her, frightened of what he'd done, or likely just frightened of the fact that he'd done it in front of two witnesses, one of whom wasn't a sixteen year old girl. I stood frozen for a few seconds, dashed up the porch steps, and started to step over Robert, who was trying to get an unconscious Leea to talk to him."

What the fuck are you doing?" He asked, grabbing me and leaving some of Leea's blood on my shirt.

"I'm calling an ambulance, you fucking idiot!" I shouted back, shaking off his hands and continuing into the house.

"You better get the police to," Chris called after me.

"You shut the fuck up!" Robert shouted at him, but most of the fight was gone from his voice. more of it left when a car pulled into the driveway. I knew the sound of the engine. it was Mark's 58 Fury. He and Alison had apparently decided, considering which direction we'd gone in, to follow us before doing whatever they'd originally planned on doing.

In another moment, mark and Alison were out of the car and advancing on Robert. They took one look at the scene before them and their faces went first white, then red with rage. It was at that point that I decided that before I called anyone, I'd need to stop what could have easily become murder, although part of me was informing the rest that maybe I should just let it go, let them do whatever they wanted to, to remove a monster from the human race.

"All hale the Crimson King," I thought crazily and disconnectedly, "the king is in his tower, eating bred and honey, the Breakers in the basement, making all the money."

Mark charged at Robert, opening the toolkit he carried and removing a vary large and very heavy wrench.

"I don't know what the fuck you've been up to," he said in a low, threatening voice, "but you can just put your head between your legs and kiss your ass good-bye, you fucking psycho!"

Suddenly, Chris was there, grasping mark's shoulder. in another moment, I'd moved forward and taken Alison's hand.

"Let me go, Kris," Mark said, half looking at him, "I don't want to hurt you."

"At this point, you don't want to hurt him either," Chris said, "Jade's calling the police. If you attack him with that thing, you'll end up behind bars right along with him."

"I don't give a shit," Mark said.

"I think you'll if Alison ends up there too," Chris said, "you're six-two, but she's only four-six. Not to mention she tips the scales at no more than a hundred pounds soking wet. She wouldn't stand a chance inside.".

"But that fuckhole'll probably just get a slap on the wrist and be let go to do this again, or something even worse," Mark said, but his grip on the wrench relaxed and it clanged onto the porch, landing not far from Chris's foot.

"Not if I have anything to do with it," Chris said.

"But what if you don't?" Mark asked, "that asshole has enough resources to get hold of fake FBI uniforms. I don't know where all his fucking material's coming from, but something tells me that we're about to finish up in a long tub of shit. Better to just bash his brains right the fuck in and save everyone a lot of trouble later on."

"Don't tempt me," Chris said.

"What exactly did that crotch cricket do?" Mark asked, surprising a smile from me with his rather creative epithet, "This place looks like a rejected set from a Friday the 13th movie."

As Chris explained the sequence of events to Mark, I entered the house, taking Alison with me, and picked up the phone. I completed the call quickly and then went back outside to wait. The ambulance arrived with about 4 police cars surrounding it. The police cars and ambulance both emptied at the same time. The police arrested a screaming and struggling Robert, while the ambulance attendants strapped an unconscious and badly beaten Leea onto a back board with a head support on it.

"I wasn't trying to hurt her!" Robert screamed as he was loaded into one of the police cars. "Let me go! That's my baby girl back there! I have to be there for her!"

"Yeah, you have to be there for her," Mark said sarcastically, "just like you were there for her when she cracked her fucking head off the porch. And you weren't trying to hurt her? That's the biggest load of bullshit I've heard in a while."

The police ignored Roberts screams and shoved him roughly into one of their cars. I ignored him too, and walked over to the ambulance driver, whose'd introduced herself to me as Shelly.

"Can I ride with her?" I asked.

"Sure," Shelly said, "As long as you don't mind answering a few questions."

"I'll answer as many as I can," I said. "but they'll have to be about what just happened, as I haven't been here the last few days."

"Fair enough," She said. "Let's go."

I jumped into the passenger seat beside Shelly. Once we were assured that Leea was stable and ready to be moved, we sped off with lights flashing and sirens blaring, Mark's 58 fury right on our tail.

"What happened back there, and how'd your sister get all those injuries?" Shelly asked me.

"I don't know about the beating, only the head injury," I told her.

"How was that obtained?" She asked.

""She tried to get away from Robert and over to me," I explained, holding off the tears that wanted to come, and continuing in a strong sure voice, a strength I didn't feel, "Robert shoved her backward and she fell and hit her head on the doorframe. When she landed on the porch her head bounced 3 times.

"Holy shit," she said. "Forgive me, but that man back there is one sick bastard, especially if he beat her that badly!"

"it wouldn't surprise me if he did it," I said, "I've been beaten pretty badly a few times by him myself."

"Bad enough to break bones?" She asked.

"No, but he snapped this time, because I wasn't there to take care of Leea and the house like he's used to," I explained.

"What does your being there have to do with anything?" Shelley asked.

"He feels that women were put on this earth to take care of men, clean the house, cook, and take care of the children," I explained, "since I wasn't there to beat up on, and my mother wasn't there. With us both gone, he took out all his rage on Leea instead."

"Is that what you think he was doing?" She asked, a look of disgust crossing her face.

"I know, because he told both me and my grandfather that women were put on this earth to serve men," I said flatly.

"I hope they put that one away forever." she said.

"If she dies, they might go for the death penalty," I told her, gesturing to Leea behind us.

"I'm usually against the death penalty, but that man deserves it," she said as we pulled up to the hospital. "Thanks for all your help."

"Your welcome," I said as I stepped out of the ambulance.

There were 2 orderlies unloading a still unconscious Leea from the ambulance. I walked alongside her as far as I could, which was the waiting room. As Chris, Mark, and Alison joined me, the orderlies rushed into an operating room with Leea.

We waited for what felt like forever, but was just over 2 hours, before a doctor came looking for us. She gestured for me to follow, and when Chris, Mark, and Alison attempted to do likewise, she stopped them.

"I'm sorry, sir, but you and those other two aren't legally related to the patient, so I can't talk about anything in front of you." She told him.

""but Doctor, jade is still a minor," Chris said, voicing my own thought as well.

"Jade's sixteen, and until her mother's found, she's Leea's only other living relative, and because she's sixteen, she can legally take guardianship of her," the Doctor explained, "you, sir, are not related to Leea in any way, so you can't make any legal decisions for her."

"Legal bullshit," Mark said under his breath, "get ready to drown in it."

"Come on, Mark," Alison said, taking his hand and cradling it against her cheek, "it's ok."

"Yeah," Mark returned, still in a low voice, "but where does that leave the only seemingly responsible adult related to Jade where it concerns Leea?"

"I'm not sure there," Alison replied, "we can only hope that ..."

"Hope that what?" Mark asked, "hope that Robert gets himself killed in his holding cell so he can't get right back out and do something even worse to either Leea or Jade?"

"Ok," Chris said, stepping back and hugging me, "tell me how she is."

"Of course I will," I said, following the Doctor into her office.

"My name is Doctor Ashley Taylor, and I've been assigned as Leea's Doctor," she told me once we were alone.

"Doctor Taylor, how is my sister?" I asked, trying not to sound anxious.

"She's stable, but remains unconscious and unresponsive," Ashley said, "we fixed all we could with surgery, we have her on fluids for the dehydration, but other than that, it's all up to her."

"How bad is she?" I asked, "and no matter what happens, I want Chris in on everything from this point on too."

"She's not well at all," Ashley answered. "She has several broken bones and the most severe case of dehydration I've ever seen. She's in a full body cast, due in large part to the numerous broken bones, and I'm not sure if she'll ever come out of the coma she's in. As for your grandfather, if you sign the release forms, we're more than happy to oblige."

"Thanks for being honest, Doctor Taylor," I said, trying to hide my shock and tears.

"That's the only way I can be and, by the way, it's Ashley," she said, putting her arm around me.

"Thanks, Ashley," I said, not moving to push her arm away.

"Now I have a question to ask you," she said.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Where did you get those bruises?" She asked.

"Robert beat me a few days ago, when my chores weren't done on time," I said. "That was the night he and several of his friends raped me, and forced Leea to watch it."

"That's one sick father you both have there," Ashley said sounding ill.

"He's my stepfather," I corrected absently.

"you say he raped you?" she asked.

"Yes, but that was several days ago." I answered, "and I made the mistake of showering afterward."

"I think we're going to treat you for some of those bruises, and run a rape kit on you," she said, "there may still be a chance of finding something."

"Do you think you'll find anything?" I asked, "it's been several days and I've showered several times since then."

"I'm not sure about DNA, but we can find signs of forced entry," she explained. "My nurse, Mariah, will do everything necessary."

"Ok, did you do any blood work on Leea?" I asked.

"Yes. We're just waiting for the results," she said as Mariah entered, "I think we'll do the same blood work on you too."

Mariah led me out of the office and directly to an examination cubical. When Chris tried to follow us inside, she waved him off.

"these tests aren't appropriate for men to be attending," she said firmly, but gently.

"Jade, are you ok, and what's going on here?" Chris asked in alarm.

"I'm fine. They're treating my more severe bruises and doing some very personal female test to try and get Robert on rape charges," I explained.

"Ok. I'll be in the waiting room with Mark and Alison," he said, as Ashley came running up and pushed passed him.

"I forgot to have you sign these forms to do a rape kit on Leea," she said holding out the papers to me.

Quickly, I read and signed the papers and handed them backed to her. She was gone as quickly as she'd come in, and simultaneously, the lab technicians had gotten all the blood they needed.

"I'll be back with yours and Leea's test results in an hour," Ashley called back as she rushed away.

I didn't have time to answer, because Mariah was urging me to strip for the remaining tests. They did a very thorough exam, being careful to document external and internal results. They did a pap smear as well as the rape kit, wanting to check for STD's.

Ashley returned exactly 1 hour after she'd left. Mariah was putting stitches in 1 of the more severe bruises that had broken open thanks to my exersions at the house. I could tell by the look on Ashley's face that she didn't like what she'd found.

"What's wrong?" I asked, trying not to move and disturb what Mariah was doing.

"I've got some very bad news for you," Ashley said, dropping into the chair beside the bed where I was lying.

"What is it?" I asked again, starting to be afraid.

"You and your sister both have HIV," she said so low I could barely hear her.

"are you sure?" I asked.

"That's not the worst of it," she said. "When was Leea's first period?"

"A couple months ago, and I tried to tell Tara about it but she just ignored me and said some girls develop early. Why?" I asked trying to keep the fear out of my voice.

"because you were both raped by several people, and you're both pregnant," she said, her voice filled with the same shock and horror I was trying to hide. "technology now allows us to tell even before you miss a period."

I sat there stunned for about 2 minutes. I felt as if I had been hit with a physical blow. Robert had stripped Leea of any innocents she had left. Not only had he forced her to watch my rape, but when I'd left, he had his fun with her. Brutally and savagely, he tried to turn a 9 year old child into a woman. Now she lay broken by his hands, completely unaware of what had been done to her. It made me want to beat the shit out of him, but it also made me sick that a father could do that to his own child, and especially one so young.

"What do we do?" I asked finally.

"that's not up to us. It's up to Leea," Ashley said, somewhat calmer now. "We're giving her what medicines we can, as we'll do with you."

"Can I see her?" I asked.

"Not right now. She's still in the recovery room and we need to get you admitted for additional tests, to see how badly this truly is, and get some fluids into you," she said, becoming calm and business like again.

"Ok, but before we do that, I need to call Tommy and Eddie to report all my findings," I explained, not thinking, at the moment, of the conversation Mark and Alison had had with me outside the school that day, which now seemed to have taken place a few thousand years ago at least.

"Who are Tommy and Eddie?" She asked.

"They're FBI agents who were helping Leea and me put Robert away," I explained. "They thought that he was dealing drugs. Although Mark didn't think they were real agents."

"do you have their business cards with you?" She asked.

"of course. That's where the phone numbers are," I said pulling the cards out and holding them up for her to see. "Why, is there something wrong?"

"Can I see those cards please?" She asked holding out a hand for them.

"Of course," I said, handing them to her.

She studied the cards for about a minute. I could tell by her face she didn't like what she saw.

"These aren't cards from FBI agents," she said. "If they were, their'd be either badge numbers or agency ID on them, and there are neither telltale sign, so to speak."

"But I saw Tommy's badge," I told her.

"Did you get to read it?" She asked.

"No. I saw it catch the light through the window of his car, and knew only that it was a badge," I answered, "and you're not the first one who was suspicious of that FBI business."

"Just because you saw something that looked like a badge doesn't mean it was a real one," she told me. "I think the police officer waiting to talk to you would be very interested in this. Do you mind if I make copies of these cards, and who else was suspicious?"

"No, not at all," I told her, "and the other person who was suspicious was Mark, the man who came in with Chris, and so, actually, was leea."

"Good," she said as Mariah came in with a wheelchair, "we'll get you settled into your regular room and then I'll go to the copier. Then I'll see if your friend wants to talk to the police too."

"Just you try and stop him," I said, "If they can keep a straight face during questioning though, it'll be a cold day in Hell."

"Why?" Ashley asked.

"Because Mark's got a habit of coming up with stuff that you'd never expect," I answered, thinking of him calling Robert a crotch cricket during the confrontation at the house and calling him "The Great Lord Asshole" at the coffee shop the night of the rape.

Ashley and Mariah helped me into the wheelchair and rolled me towards the elevator. Chris, Mark, and Alison came running up to walk alongside, looking more than a bit worried.

"What's going on?" Chris asked.

"We're going to admit Jade for further tests and treatments," Ashley told him.

"What's wrong with her?" He asked.

"We'll talk about it upstairs," Ashley told him, "it's not a subject to be discussed in the middle of a hallway.

Chris didn't say anything. He, Mark, and Alison just got on the elevator with us. Once we were in my room, Ashley closed the door.

"I can't really tell him," Ashley said turning to me.

"I have HIV, and so does Leea," I told him. "And we're both pregnant."

Chris sat down in the chair as if his legs had given out on him. He stared at me for over a minute with his mouth open, then closed it with a snap, while Mark's face went red.

"Those bastards gave them aids?" Mark asked in disbelief, "it's too damn bad there's no charge that can be put against them for that."

"We're going to do everything we can for both girls," Ashley assured them, "with their pregnancies it'll be more difficult, but not impossible."

"What are you going to do with the baby?" Chris asked me.

"I'll keep it," I said. "You know I don't believe in abortion unless my life is in danger, and the child doesn't no how it was created, so it has no fault in this."

"That's a very brave thing you're doing," Ashley said, averting her eyes to hide her tears. I saw Mariah doing the same from the corner of my eye.

"How can you keep that baby?" Chris demanded, "that man raped you."

"The child doesn't know any better," I told him, my tone letting him know not to force the issue, "my child didn't ask to be created in this way or any other. Furthermore, there's no truth in evil being passed on from Father to child. That's just an old myth."

"I don't agree with your choice, but I can't stop you," Chris said, resigning himself to this new reality, "I'll help support you and your child, as well as Leea and hers."

"Leea's child will most likely miscarry because of the trauma she's been through," Ashley said.

"Not to mention the fact that she's too fucking young to even carry a child to term," Mark said, "what fucking kind of sickos do that to an eight-year-old anyway?"

"Leea's nine," Chris corrected.

"I just hope she doesn't remember it," Mark worried.

"Me too," Ashley stated. "She still has quite a bit of brain activity, so we don't know how deep into her coma she is."

"Oh, she'll remember," Alison said sadly, "she'll remember it all. Maybe not on the surface, but deep down, where the nightmares live, she'll remember."

"I think we need to pray for all of them as hard as we can," Mariah said speaking for the first time.

"I agree," Chris said.

"What good will praying do?" Mark asked, "if God had really been watching, he'd have made sure that motherfucker never had the chance to do any of the things he did to them."

"I'm going to have to ask for you and your friends to leave again, Chris," Ashley said. "The police have already spoken to you, and they want to speak to Jade alone."

"Of course," Chris said, rising and motioning to Mark and Alison to accompany him.

"I'll be right back with those copies," Ashley said, and everyone left the room.

As soon as the room was empty, a blonde woman walked in. She took the chair Chris had been sitting in and pulled it close to the bed. That was when I noticed that Ashley hadn't put the bars up on my bed. I ignored them for the time being, and focused on the woman in front of me.

"My name is Michelle Wiliams, and your case has been assigned to me," she stated. "I understand that you've met up with some people I've been looking for who've been impersonating FBI agents?"

"Yes, I've met Eddie and Tommy," I said.

"Do you have their business cards?" She asked.

"Yes, Ashley just went to the nurses station to make copies for you," I responded. "She should be back any second now."

At that moment, we heard Ashley scream in the hallway. Without even thinking about it, or looking to see if Michelle was behind me, I ran straight out into the hall.

Tommy was on Ashley's back, slamming her into the wall, trying to get her to drop the business cards along with the copies that she was carrying. I reacted without even thinking about the danger to myself, my goal was only to get him away from Ashley. I jumped at Tommy, grabbing him in a choke hold. He let go of Ashley and began trying to fight me. I pushed a freed Ashley into the waiting arms of another Doctor and dragged Tommy by the throat down the hall to a stunned and waiting Michelle. He'd stopped fighting and was unconscious, so I let him fall to the floor at her feet.

"How'd you learn to do that?" Michelle asked in a stunned voice as she put the cuffs on Tommy.

"Wait a minute. It's not over yet," I whispered, and then the lights went out.

"Everybody down!" Michelle and I shouted in unison as we dove to the floor and heard those around us doing the same.

It was a good thing we'd done that, as gun shots whooshed overhead where I'd just been, the shots coming from two directions.

From the direction of the waiting room, I heard a voice cry, "What in the name of the great all-mighty Christ in a swimming pool's going on around here!"

"Don't come in here, Mark," I prayed silently. But Mark didn't hear my unspoken prayer. I saw him out of the corner of my eye as he moved along the wall, making himself as small as possible. Apparently, whoever was shooting didn't see him, and I heard the impact of flesh on flesh and the clatter of something metallic hitting the floor.

"Sorry guy," I heard him say immediately before another impact reached my ears. I looked in that direction and saw a body hit the floor and Mark planting his foot in the man's throat.

"Mark?" Alison called from the waiting room.

"It's ok," Mark answered, "just taking out the trash."

More gunshots rang out from another direction, causing Mark to drop to the ground. I sensed Alison making her way through the darkened corridor, and heard another impact. Another thud reached my ears, informing me that Alison had utilized her small size to her advantage, building up enough speed to headbut one of the additional shooters in the back, causing him to crack his head off one of the walls. Once the shooting stopped, I crawled over to approximately where I thought the second shooter might be.

I threw myself upwards, kicking out with both feet as I did. One foot caught the shooters gun hand, sending the gun and several spare shells flying, whilst the other foot caught him in the ribs, sending him to the floor, coughing and trying to scream. Just then, the lights came back on.

Michelle saw where we were, ran down to us, taking note of the situation, of Mark and Alison, both of whom had a foot planted in a shooter's throat. She quickly arrested Eddie and the others as she had Tommy, and then turned amazed eyes to me, Mark, and Alison.

"Where'd you learn to fight like that?" She asked.

"I took some martial arts courses when the beating started getting bad," I said, refusing to say any more about it.

"As for me," Mark added, "I've learned a few things in my time, as has Alison."

"you should go into police work when you graduate," she said admiringly, her attention focused on me.

"I don't think so," I said, as Ashley hurried towards us.

"we need to get you back in bed and get some stitches in your forehead," Ashley said, and only then did I realize the large gash I'd gotten during the fray. I followed her and Michelle back to my room.

"Can further questioning wait until later?" Ashley asked Michelle as she helped me back into bed, putting the bars up this time.

"Yes, I have four men arrested out there to deal with," Michelle said. "But I need those cards you have, all copies, including the originals."

"No problem," Ashley said, pulling them from her medical bag and handing them over.

"Are you ok?" Chris asked, hurrying in as Michelle hurried out.

"Yes. I'm fine, just really tired," I told him.

"We're giving her some fluids and an herbal sleep aide that won't hurt her baby," Ashley said as Mariah started an IV.

"Can I stay with her?" Chris asked.

"Yes, provided, you don't interrupt her rest," Ashley said. "but I expect you to get some rest tonight too. There's nothing more you can do here, and if something happens, the hospital will call you."

"Ashley. We need your help," Michelle said, poking her head back in the door as Mariah started the meds in the IV.

"What is it?" Ashley asked, turning around instantly.

"We have an emergency in the car those men came in," Michelle said. "We think it's the girls mother, and she's beaten up pretty badly. She's unconscious too but we think it's dehydration because there are no marks on her head.

"Speed up, Mariah, we need to get down there now!" Ashley shouted. "we'll let you know if, and or when we get a positive ID, and once she's stable!" She added, hurrying to follow Michelle.

Mariah quickly finished up with what she was doing, and she and Ashley ran out the door, with Michelle leading the way. Mariah turned off the lights as she sped by.

I fell asleep quickly. When I woke up again, Michelle was sitting beside the bed. She looked exhausted. beside her sat Mark and Alison, neither of whom looked much better than she did herself.

"How are you feeling?" She asked, seeing I was awake.

"I'm thirsty," I said hoarsely.

"It was your mother," she said, poring a small cup of water and holding it for me. "Ashley will be here shortly to tell you the rest."

As if on cue, Ashley entered. She too looked extremely exhausted. She pulled another chair from against the wall over to the bed and flopped into it.

"How are you feeling?" She asked.

"I woke up thirsty and I'm in some pain," I told her.

"we can give you some Tylenol but that's about it," she said apologetically.

"How are Leea and my mother?" I asked.

"Leea's still in a coma, and your mother wasn't as bad as we thought," she said. "She's in and out of consciousness, she'll be in a wheelchair for a while, but that's about it."

"When can I see Leea?" I asked.

"I can have Mariah take you over there to see her for a little wile, and once your mother regains full consciousness, we'll move her in here," Ashley said, calling for Mariah.

"Tara has regained full consciousness," Mariah reported to Ashley as she helped me into a wheelchair.

"Good, we'll move her in here while Jade is visiting Leea," Ashley said, and went off to get the process started.


	5. Chapter 5 A Mother's Hate

Mariah pushed me quickly to the elevator, then in to Leea's private ICU cubical. I knew it was bad, but her words of warning weren't enough to prepare me for what I saw.

"I'll be back for you in a while," Mariah said, averting her eyes and hurrying away to join Ashley.

I looked down at my baby sister's broken body. Ashley had been honest and told me the truth about the cast, but seeing it still made my heart break. Seeing someone so vital and young who had been playing and laughing just a short time before, laying there broken, possibly already dead, covered in a full cast and having so many wires coming from her, I couldn't fathom it, even though I was seeing it all first-hand.

I spent about 45 minutes at Leeas bedside. Holding the small fragile fingers that protruded from the body cast, I talked to her about anything I could think of to make her open her eyes and maybe smile, until Mariah returned and rolled me away. I cried as I was wheeled into the elevator, knowing that Leea would never be whole again.

When I returned to my room again, all hell broke loose. Tara saw me and started screaming at the top of her lungs even though Mark, Alison, and Chris were present, she didn't seem to care.

"Who the hell do you think you are accusing my Robert of things you know he didn't do?" She demanded.

"I didn't accuse him of anything," I said, as Ashley pushed me forward so she could close the door.

"Calm down, Mrs. Wilson. It isn't good for ms. Jones to get overly stressed," Ashley said, making the statement nearly an order.

"Well, she should've thought about that before she and her sister accused my Robert of doing things he'd never do!" Tara shouted

"We have medical proof that both girls were raped," Ashley said in a totally flat, professional, uninflected voice. "We found Robert's DNA imbedded in both girls vaginas, and there were clear signs of forced entry, as well as broken hymens in both cases."

"The sluts probably led him on, then he had sex with them, and they probably got some boys from the school to rape them, and anyway, how can you prove who broke their hymens?" Tara screamed at Mariah, then she turned to me, addressing the next comment my way, "You were always a bad influence on Leea. Robert was right, we should've got rid of both of you when we got married."

"Mrs. Wilson, we'll have to move you if you don't stop this!" Ashley warned sharply. "And the DNA we found in both girls is from an adult male, not younger teenaged boys."

"I have no daughters, just 2 sluts that are old enough to take care of themselves!" Tara shouted. "Do the job I gave you, and take care of your little slutty sister! And you 2 get me my own fucking private room! My insurance will pay for it!"

"Will it also pay for what someone's liable to do to you if you keep running your ever-fucking mouth, you stupid fuck knuckle?" Mark asked, once again surprising a smile from me thanks to his inventive name calling capabilities.

"are you threatening me?" Tara asked.

"No," I thought, "he's just calling you a fuck knuckle, whatever the hell one of those is."

"just wondering how the hell you lived as long as you did without getting your ass kicked for you," Mark retorted.

"For her?" Alison asked, "you make it sound like she's looking to get it kicked."

"She rather is," Mark replied, "especially if she keeps running her dick lickers like that."

"What the hell are you smiling at, slut!" Tara screamed at me, said reaction simply made me want to laugh. I'd gotten a picture in my head of myself suddenly saying, "Nothin', you stupid fuck knuckle," and I was laughing, hard.

"watch your language, goddamnit!" Alison said to Tara, causing me to laugh so hard that tears squirted out of the corners of my eyes.

"Quit laughing, slut!" Tara screamed, making it even worse.

"That's right," Mark said to Tara, "you just watch your goddamn motherfucking language, goddamnit!"

That, and the thunderous look Tara gave Mark finished it for me. I fell back onto the bed, kicking my feet and howling uncontrolably.

"Can someone please get her out of here before Jade laughs herself sick?" Alison asked, not taking into account that she'd been the one to really start me going in the first place.

Tara was quickly moved from my room. I was sedated again, and everyone left me alone. When I awoke again, Chris was there with me, but his eyes were downcast.

"Are you ok, Chris?" I asked, and he raised his head slowly.

"I can't believe your mother has changed so much," he said. "She used to adore you and would've never chosen a man over you. That Robert has changed her so much, and I wonder how a loser like that can stand against the love she had for your father."

Just as he finished, Ashley came into the room. Chris started to rise, but before he could, she flopped dispiritedly into the other chair. mark and Alison followed her in and stood against the wall.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Tara refuses to take back guardianship of Leea," she said. "An she refuses to sign the papers for Leea's meds, because she says its your job."

"Where are the papers?" I asked.

"There right here," she said, holding them out to me.

Just as I reached for them, the door flew open and Tara stormed in. She glared at me. I could see Michelle running down the hall behind her.

"Slut, you're not doing your fucking job again!" She shouted, as Michelle and 2 security guards, with a third behind them, blocking the exit, came up and surrounded her. "They interrupted my sleep because you wouldn't wake up and fucking sign your sister's goddamn papers! I thought You understood your job when I brought Leea home! I fucking told you, then and there, she was your fucking responsibility, from the day I brought her the fuck home!"

"Why don't you do us all a favor?" Mark asked, "and go to Hell, go directly to Hell, without passing go, and without collecting two-hundred dollars?"

"Mam, please watch your language and lower your voice?" Michelle asked politely, "and Mr. Rhymer, can you kindly refrane from egging her on?"

"I guess I'll try," Mark said, "but it's just so fun to mess with her, considering how she's probably right in on this whole thing with that no good scum bucket of a husband of hers."

"What's she talking about?" Ashley asked me.

"Shut the fuck up, Pig!" Tara shouted, glaring at Michelle.

"Look who's calling who a pig?" Mark said, and Alison took his face in her hands and planted a long kiss on his lips, silencing him, and causing him to smile beneath the kiss.

""We lived in a 2 bedroom house, and Leea was put into my room the night Tara brought her home," I explained softly. "I was told that Tara was going back to work the next day, and that I was responsible for Leea from then on. I had to feed her, clothe her, change her diapers, and everything that a mother would do, even though she wasn't biologically mine, and now she's more of a daughter than a sister to me."

"That's right, and you did a poor job, just like Robert said you would, and now, because you refused to do your job, she's dying, and her blood is on your hands!" Tara screamed at me.

"Her blood is on Robert's hands," Michelle said flatly. "With your permission, doc, we'd liked to take this one downtown."

"you can, but we'll have to induce her labor and take her baby," Ashley said. "and with your permission The baby will be given to you, jade?"

"You can't have my baby!" Tara screamed, lunging at me despite the security guards. Mark reacted more quickly than Michelle or anyone else could, because they were all shocked by her outburst, and knocked her aside without a second thought.

"No more of your bullshit," he said conversationally, pinning her arms behind her back.

Tara began to struggle violently and 2 doctor's rushed in to assist. She saved Ashley some work, however, because, in struggling as she was dragged from the room, and the fall caused by mark's defense of me, her water broke on the floor. She wailed in despair.

"I'll take the child," I said sleepily.

"I'll bring her to you, then," Ashley said, and headed after Tara to deliver the baby.

I didn't have to be sedated. This time, I fell asleep as soon as the door closed. Ashley's voice brought me back over 2 and a half hours later.

"Jade, wake up," she called softly.

"What is it?" I asked, sitting up slowly.

"You have a beautiful baby girl," she said, holding a small blanket wrapped bundle, "she's seven pounds, two ounces, and nineteen inches long."

I reached out and carefully took the baby from Ashley. I immediately fell in love with her tiny face.

"You have to feed her sugar water for the first 2 feedings," Mariah said, handing me a bottle. "Do you want to keep her in here, or in the nursery."

"I'll keep her here," I said, beginning to feed her slowly. " I want to name her Jessica Lynn."

"Good choice," Ashley said, and Chris and Mariah agreed.

Once baby Jessica, the name had come to me effortlessly, was asleep, I settled back again, putting her in a baby bed someone had already brought into the room. I then looked up at Ashley.

Does Jessie have HIV?" I asked.

"Jessie?" she asked.

"I decided to name her Jessica," I explained.

"No. Tara does, but Jessica was a breach birth, we took her by C. section," she said.

"Good," I sighed with relief, but it was very short lived.

Suddenly, the loud speaker came on, calling a code blue on Leea. Mariah and Ashley both took off at once, running at full speed. A code blue meant either that Leea had stopped breathing, or her heart had stopped.

Ashley came back half an hour later. She looked pale, exhausted, and aged.

"We got her heart restarted, but she won't make it through another one like that," she said, her voice sounding like she was about to fall down where she stood.

"I want to see her now!" I demanded.

Ashley didn't refuse. In fact, she loaded me into the wheelchair herself, and started out of the room

"I'll stay with the baby," Chris said from behind us.

"She's looking a lot worse now," Ashley warned me as we entered the ICU area.

What I saw when we entered Leea's private cubical nearly brought me to tears. Leea was as white as the sheet on which she was lying. Mark and Alison were there as well, mark just having closed a book, one I'd seen before. It was a children's book he'd been reading to Leeah. Even then, my eyes lit on it for a moment, thanks to its rather unique look. It was bound in copper-colored silk, and on the front cover was a representation of two snakes, one white, the other black, which were biting each other's tails. . I looked up at Ashley, more frightened even than I'd been during that aweful night when Robert and his friends had raped me..

"What do I do?" I asked helplessly.

"Just talk to her," Ashley said. "I think she can hear you. Tell her anything you want. I'll be back.

Mark looked at Ashley and said quietly, "That's exactly what we've been doing, but it hasn't done any good. I've been reading to her, like I've had a habit of doing, but even the story's not helping."

Ashley turned away quickly. I sat looking down at my baby sister. I started talking to her, singing to her, anything I could do to get her to respond to me. For a long time, nothing happened, but just when I was reaching for the call button to call Ashley or Mariah, I felt Leea attempting to squeeze my fingers. I looked down at her and her eyes were open and she was looking up at me.

"Jade, is that you?" She asked, her voice horse and weak.

"Yes, Leea, Mark and Alison are here too, but don't talk," I said, my tears of fear turning to tears of joy, "you need to save your strength.

"No, I have things I need to say to you," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"You need to rest and get better," I said, my joy turning back to fear.

"No, Jade. It's my time to go now," she said, her voice strengthening a bit.

"Don't talk like that," I sobbed. " You have a lot of good years ahead of you."

"Tell Chris and Baby Jessica that I love them," she said. "Tell Jessica, when she's old enough to understand, that I'm sorry I couldn't get to know her."

"Don't say things like that," I cried, the sound of my voice bringing Mariah to the door.

"Your babies will be fine," she said. "Robert, his friends, and Tara will all pay their dues."

She stopped for a moment and took several deep breaths. I registered that now both Ashley and Mariah were in the doorway. Then Leea gestured for me to lean down close to her face.

"I love you, Jade," she whispered, "it's my time to go now," she added for the final time, and then kissed my cheek.

"And I love you too," she said, turning her eyes to Mark and Alison, "I'm just sorry I'll never get to hear the end of the story you were reading me."

"leea," Mark said, tears filling his eyes, "you've got to hang on. This can't be how it ends."

"The bells ..." leea said, "The bells and the crickets ..."

"Hang on, leea," I said, my fear now seemingly larger than I was myself.

"I hear the bells," leea said, her voice now no more than a whisper, "The bells and the crickets ... White beauty ... Hanging suspended ... The winged people beneath the doubled sun ... The Tower ... Three beams remain ... A Little Sister ... A rose may sing ..."

As I watched, she exhaled and didn't breathe again. Her heart monitor began to scream as a straight flat line traced across the screen.

I sat there holding Leea's hand, not hearing the running footsteps in the hall. Robert had stolen something from me, something that could never be replaced. He'd stripped Leea's innocents in everyway he could, and then he had taken her life just by knocking her to the concrete porch floor. I hated him, and hoped Leea was right about all of them. The thought of innocent Jessica waiting for me and the fact that Mark and Alison were my friends were my only anchors that kept me from losing it that night. I didn't realize until later, after many things happened, that Leea had said babies when referring to my pregnancy, as if she had been granted some form of second sight at the moment of death.

"Don't. She's too far gone," I heard Ashley say from behind me.

"Are you sure, Ashley?" Alison asked.

"Yes, I heard her last words, and it was clear she had lost her will to live," Ashley said, stepping over to the wheelchair and pushing me out of the room with mark and Alison walking alongside each holding one of my hands.

"Goodbye, my sweet Leea," I whispered, and then let go of her hand, allowing myself to be drawn from the room.

From behind me, I heard Mark speaking through his tears. At first I thought he was quoting some poem he'd made up on the spot, but then I recognized it. He was quoting the work of one of the old masters, not surprising, considering what Alison had said about him on several occasions dealing with his reading habits.

"The woods decay, the woods decay and fall, the vapours weep their burthen to the ground, man comes and tills the field and lies beneath, and after many a summer dies the swan. Me only cruel immortality consumes; I wither slowly in thine arms, here at the quiet limit of the world, a white-haired shadow roaming like a dream the ever-silent spaces of the East, far-folded mists, and gleaming halls of morn."

"She wanted to go," I told Ashley as we headed back to my room, "the son of a bitch stole her innocents in every way he could. He tried to turn a child into a woman when she should've remained a child, and then her mother denied her. They traumatized her so deeply that she lost the only thing she had left, and that was her will to live."

"She's gone?" Chris asked as he saw Ashley pushing me with mark and Alison at each of my sides, all our faces streaked with tears, including Ashley's, though she tried to hide it.

""I'm so sorry," Ashley whispered as she closed the door, and I could see she was fighting her own tears and failing.

Wordlessly, with us all crying, Ashley got me back into bed. She had just finished and slumped into a chair, when Michelle entered the room. She looked sad and tired.

"He killed her," I repeated again, now looking up at Michelle.

"I know he did," she said through clenched teeth, "the district attorney wants the death penalty and he's filed it under murder one."

"Good," I said. "What other charges do we have on him?"

"We have him on abuse, neglect, sexual assault, 2 counts on all of those," she said. "Plus conspiracy in a kidnapping, and murder one."

"Wow, that's a lot of charges," Ashley commented.

"Yes, and we found out where you girls got the HIV," Michelle said.

"Where?" Ashley and I demanded in unison.

"Robert has it and our friend Eddie has it as well," she explained, "you know, doc, everyone who has it is supposed to be registered with the health department. Well, when we ran Eddie's name, HIV was red flagged on his record."

"What charges are you putting on him and Tommy?" I asked.

"On Eddie, we have assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy in kidnapping, and sexual assault with the intent to spread, which is a capitol offense, and that also adds attempted murder," Michelle said. "And on Tommy, we have assault and battery, sexual assault, and conspiracy in a kidnapping."

"And how about that FBI bullshit?" Mark asked from the doorway, "Can't that get you an automatic fifteen to twenty?"

"Indeed it can," Michelle replied.

"It sounds like Eddie's gotten himself in a lot of trouble," I said.

"Yes, he has," Michelle said. "We also have Tara on abuse, neglect, conspiracy in a kidnapping, and aiding and abetting in both sexual assault and murder."

"She planned her own kidnapping?" I asked, stunned.

"Yes. She was in the hall closet when Robert raped you, and she watched him do everything to Leea from the closet in her room," Michelle told us, sounding disgusted. "She was in the hall closet again and called Robert when you went upstairs to get Leea. She had Eddie and Tommy beat her unconscious and throw in the trunk of their car. It seems she didn't eat or drink anything through all this, so the dehydration was real, even if intentional."

"She confessed to all this?" Chris asked, looking as stunned as I felt.

"No, but Tommy told us all about it," Michelle said, "Tara's still being rather hostile, but she did sign over her rights to Jessica before she left the hospital. Once she knew Ashley had taken her straight to you, she said the baby was contaminated, and that she'd never touch any child of hers you'd had contact with. She went on further to add that you were a bad influence, and that by holding Jessica you'd already tainted her."

:Welcome to the beginnings of a "Not Guilty By Reason Of Insanity" defense," Mark grunted.

"Jessica's too young for me to influence," I said, picking her up as she started to fuss, "she can't even think for herself yet."

"You and I know this, but Tara refuses to see it," Michelle said. "She's completely irrational."

"Or she's doing this on purpose to worm her way out of a seat in Old Sparky," Mark contributed.

"They don't electricute killers any more," Alison said, "at least not in this state. They usually give them the needle."

"A quick, painless way to go, with no suffering," Mark responded, "no wonder there are so many wannabe psychos running around out there these days."

"Either way, they're dead," said Alison, "now stop it, or I'll play the bongos on your head."

Mark smiled at this, took Alison's hand, and put his other arm around her.

"Did you tell her about Leea's death?" I asked.

"She said you'd killed her by failing to do your job properly. And if Leea did get knocked backwards by Robert, it was because he sensed how dangerous you were, and he was only trying to protect her from you," Michelle said. "And, when asked about the broken bones and bruises, she said Robert had to discipline her because she wasn't obeying him, and that you had completely corrupted her and made her not listen to him because of your influence over her."

"Oh, yeah, right," Mark said, "Jade's the Devil and she made leea not listen to him. What the hell next? I mean, what kind of fucked up All My Children or Passions plot have we all fallen into?"

"Or Days Of Our Lives plot, maybe?" Alison added.

"The Devil regularly shows up in Soap Operas?" I asked, wondering exactly where this conversation was going.

"If you believe my Mother," Mark replied, "you can go to Hell just for tuning past them."

"Your Mother must have been a real example of intelligence," I said with a laugh.

"You have no idea," Mark returned.

"Let's get you some rest," Ashley said. "All this stress isn't good for your own baby."

"I want to bring the district attorney in the morning," Michelle said.

"That's fine, if Jade is up for it," Ashley said. "But right now I want everyone out of here accept for the baby."

"We'll play it by ear," Michelle agreed, getting up from her chair.

"I'll see you in the morning," Chris said, bending down and kissing me on the forehead.

Ashley called Mariah, and I was given the final herbal dose for the night, but even with everyone gone, it took a long time for me to sleep. I kept thinking of my baby sister who I considered my daughter, and just how Robert and Tara had thrown us away, killing her in the process just because we had refused to be further abused and because we wouldn't follow their rules. What those rules were, I couldn't say, because only they would know, and considering the consequences for breaking them, I'm not sure, eve now, that I wanted to know.

All I knew as I fell asleep that night, was that my sister was dead and that I had the responsibility of one child and another on the way. Because of Robert, I'd never have the life that I'd planned. I was HIV positive, and even though my children may not have been, the future was going to be rough. I lay in the dark, trying to imagine my new future and couldn't, and that scared me. I knew that there would be a trial and the birth of the baby, but I couldn't even imagine it then. At long last, I drifted into a fitful sleep.

As my mind detached from reality, I found myself again in the vacant lot I'd visited in my dreams before. The rose nodded toward me, opening as it did, and its song filled my ears.

"A rose may sing ..."


	6. Chapter 6 Robert On The Inside

The next morning around 9 A.M., Ashley came in to check on me. She looked a little better this morning, but still a little tired.

"I want to make sure you're feeling up to visitors before allowing Michelle to come over," she told me as she did a quick examination.

"I'm feeling ok," I told her.

"Alright, I'll send them in in about half an hour," she said. "Did you eat breakfast this morning?"

"Yes. I ate everything they gave me," I told her, "and who's them? You mentioned Michell, but I didn't know she was more than one person."

"Good, maybe tomorrow we can take you off fluids then," she said, "and the other people are your grandfather and your friends."

"Ah," I said, smiling a bit, "and as for the fluids thing, I hope you can get me on them as soon as possible. I hate this IV."

"I understand, since I don't like them either," she confided. "I'll be back to check on you later to make sure your visitors don't stress you out too much."

"Ok," I said, picking Jessica up as she began to wake for her morning feeding and diaper change.

"Good morning," Michelle said, walking in about half an hour later with a tall man behind her, "this is the district attorney, Jack Willis."

"Good morning, Michelle and Mr. Willis," I returned, smiling as best I could, noticing that Mark and Alison had entered the room with them. Chris was, so far, nowhere in evidence.

"I'm just jack. Mr. Willis was my grandfather," he said.

"Call me Jade," I stopped him before he could say more.

"How are you feeling this morning?" Michelle asked.

"A little tired and still in shock," I told them.

"I can understand that," jack said. "Did Michelle tell you what we want for Robert?"

"Yes. She said you're pushing for the death penalty," I answered him.

"What do you think of that?" He asked.

"I think he deserves it," I said.

"Would you be up to attending Robert's court hearing tomorrow?" He asked.

"I don't know. I guess it depends on what Ashley feels is best," I told him.

"I'll see if I can find her," Michelle said, starting to rise as the door opened.

"If your looking for me, I'm right here," Ashley said, entering the room with Chris right behind her.

"Hello, Ashley," Jack said smiling.

"It's good to see you again, Jack," she said, shaking his hand, "what were you needing me for?"

"I just asked jade if she felt like going to Robert's hearing tomorrow, and she said we needed to ask you," jack replied.

"As long as She's not overly stressed, and her babies lives aren't endangered, I don't see a problem with it," Ashley said, "that's predicated on you feeling up to it."

"Babies?" Jack asked.

"Yes, babies," I said, lifting a sleeping Jessica from her bed.

"You said babies, so where's the other one?" He asked.

"In here," I said, pointing to my stomach.

"He got you pregnant?" Jack asked in shock.

"Yes, he did, and I'm keeping it," I said

"Why would you put yourself through that? Won't it remind you of the rape?" He asked.

"It's not the child's fault how it was created, and I don't subscribe to the notion of abortion," I said.

"But why not give it up for adoption since you already have one child?" he asked, and I noticed he was looking adoringly down at Jessica. "Is that Tara's child?"

"At one time yes, but now she's mine," I said calmly. "Tara gave up her rights."

"We need to get Robert to do the same thing," Jack said.

"He won't," I predicted. "He's stubborn like that, plus he can use that as a tie to try to keep me close to him."

"Well, we have to try at least," Jack insisted.

"One thing at a time, Jack," Ashley admonished.

"Ok," Jack said sulkily, and I noticed, for the first time, how cute he was, "then there's the little matter of the trouble we had here last night."

"What trouble?" Mark asked, "if you're meaning those idiots with guns..."

"No," Jack said, "I'm not meaning that trouble."

"Then what trouble are you meaning?" I asked.

"I don't think now would be the proper time," jack said.

"And what would you think would be the proper time?" Mark asked, 'after she goes to that bastard's court hearing and finds it out from some judge?"

"You've got a point there, Mr. Rimer," Jack answered.

"Just call me Mark. I could never stand all that Mr. Rimer stuff."

"Well," jack began, "we've had an incident of body snatching."

"What the hell?" Mark asked in utter astonishment, "that shit doesn't happen now!"

"It did here last night," jack said, "and it's tied in with Jade's case."

"In what way," I asked.

"Your sister's body was stolen last night," jack responded, causing me to nearly faint.

"How the fuck did he get someone in here to do that?" Alison cried, "what's going on around here where security is concerned? First a bunch of thugs with guns get in here and start shooting up the place and now this!"

"We still don't know how it was done," Jack replied, "there's a four minute blank out on the security tapes."

"So now the cops have to look for someone else not currently in custody and figure out just how the Christ they got in here, stole leea's corpse, and made off with it, all without anyone even so much as glimpsing them out of the corner of an eye," Mark said, "Oh, this is just fucking wonderful! Furthermore, there's the matter of motivation. Why the hell'd someone want that particular corpse? Why Leea, of all people?"

"When is this thing in the morning?" Michelle asked, diverting the conversation from Mark's question.

"It's at 10, but I thought I'd take Jade for breakfast first," he said. "That's if you have no objections."

"Just be warned, she could get morning sickness," Ashley warned.

"I'll let the judge know, and if she needs a break, it will be granted," Jack told her.

"Good. Now, I think Chris has a few things he'd like to discuss with her," Ashley said. "What time were you thinking of coming by in the morning?"

"I was thinking about 8:30 or so," he said.

"We'll have Jade dressed and ready by then," she told him, "And Jessica put in the nursery while your gone."

"Ok, I'll see you tomorrow," I said, looking at Jack.

"You as well," he said, shook my hand, and he and Michelle left the room.

"I'll stay here for this one, Chris, assuming you don't mind," Ashley said, taking one of the now vacant chairs.

Chris nodded and moved closer to the bed. I noticed that his eyes were red rimmed.

"I just wondered what you wanted to do with the house and the personal belongings left behind?" Chris asked, getting straight to the point.

"There are some things I want, but I could never go back there to live or visit," I said.

"You simply have to give me a list of the things you want, and I'll get them for you," he said. "Mark and Alison can help with that."

"I could never make you go out there and look at all that blood," I said, averting my eyes to hide my tears.

"You don't need to hide your pain," Ashley said, putting her arm around me.

"Are there any of Leea's things that you want?" Chris asked.

"Some," I said. "But I don't want to just take what you think she'd want me to have, and most importantly, please find the hidden photos of my father and Tara, plus the valuables from my room, accept the slutty things Robert bought me."

"I'll see what I can do," he promised resolutely. "What about the house?"

"Get rid of it as soon as everything's gone," I told him firmly.

"I'll do a good job of getting rid of it," Mark said, "or I would if it weren't illegal to pour gasoline all round the place, throw a match through a window, and watch the place burn merry Hell."

"You need to get as much rest as you can today," Ashley said. "Tomorrow promises to be a very long day for you, I think."

"You got that one right," I agreed, beginning to feed Jessica.

Around 9 o'clock that night, a nurse came in and gave me my herbal medicine, along with vitamins. She then removed the IV, and waltzed out as fast as she'd entered, leaving me alone once more. I was asleep before the door closed.

The next morning, I was already dressed and had finished feeding Jessica, when Jack arrived promptly at 8:30. He smiled down as Mariah gently picked her up to take her to the nursery.

"Before you take the baby, can I hold her?" Jack asked Mariah, somewhat cautiously.

Mariah looked at me, and I smiled and nodded, as she carefully handed Jessica to jack.

"She's so beautiful," he said, and I knew he genuinely meant it.

After she fell asleep in his arms seconds later, Mariah took her and left the room. Jack pushed my wheelchair to the parking lot, and we drove away from the hospital for the first time since Leea's injury, with Mark and Alison following us in the white-over-red car I'd come to think of as "Mark's Fury.".

"I hope I get out of there permanently, and soon!" I told jack, "I hate hospitals."

"Me too," he said laughing.

There was much small talk during breakfast. We got to the courthouse just in time, but were held up for a moment at the door, as an elderly gentleman greeted us. We followed him into the courtroom, where only a few people were gathered.

"I'm Judge Joshua Smith," he said, smiling warmly at me, "I want to ask you some questions, but let me know if you need a break."

"Thank you," I said. "I'll definitely do that."

"Alright, let's begin," he said. "For the record, would you please state your full name?"

"My name is Jade Marie Jones," I said.

"How do you know Mr. Robert Wilson?" He asked.

"He's my stepfather," I answered.

"Has Mr. Wilson abused you in any way?" He asked.

"yes. I've been beaten on several occasions, been raped by him (with several of his friends doing the same), and have been verbally abused, countless times over." I told him.

"Did he ever abuse your half-sister Leea?" He asked.

"He made her watch the rape and hit her for the first time the night after," I said.

"Anything beyond that?" He asked.

"I don't know, because Chris took me away. Also, Robert wouldn't let Leea come with us, he threatened to kill her when we tried to take her," I told him, "he held a knife to her throat."

"Did you go back for her?" He asked, "and if so, what did you see?"

"Yes, we went back, when Leea was able to call, and she appeared to have several broken bones. Also, she looked weakened, starved, and severely dehydrated," I explained, trying to stay calm. "She was unable to stand on her own, couldn't redial the phone she'd dropped, and she'd almost lost the ability to talk."

"Did Leea have her head injury at that time, and why didn't Chris take Leea when he took you?" He asked.

"Chris opted not to because Robert had Leea by the throat, threatening to kill her if we didn't leave. And he'd've followed through with it, I have no doubt of that," I told him, again feeling the dread and fear I'd felt that night. "As for the head injury, it came later, during the incident with Robert, when we went back in response to her call for help."

"How did Leea obtain this head injury?" He asked.

I swallowed hard and slowly began to explain what'd happened. Once finished, the judge looked thoughtfully at me.

"Do you think Robert would've carried out his threats to kill her either time?" He asked.

"Yes, I have no doubt of it," I answered, starting to feel sick. "May I be excused for a few minutes?"

"Of course," he said. "Five minute recess."

I ran quickly to the bathroom and had my first bout of morning sickness. When I returned, Jack wordlessly handed over some soda and crackers. Once I was composed, the questions resumed, but I noticed that there were no questions at all concerning Mark and Alison's arrival at the house and Mark's aborted attempt to beat Robert's skull into a new and interesting shape with a wrench.

"The medical records show you and Leea both have HIV?" He asked.

"I do, and Leea did before her death," I told him.

"They also state that the trauma to Leea's head killed her. Do you believe that?" He asked.

"That, and the fact that Robert destroyed her innocents in everyway he could. "And her being so traumatized that she simply lost her will to live," I told him. "and then there's the matter of her body being stolen from the hospital. Someone wanted to make sure Robert got off on at least one charge."

"What do you mean by "destroyed her innocents in everyway?" He asked.

"As I stated earlier, he forced her to look on as I was raped by him and his friends. Then, once I was gone, he raped - and then let others rape her. The end result was her eventual pregnancy," I told him. "He tried to make her grow up before her time, something she couldn't do. She was traumatized and died!"

"That's all we have for today," he said. "Bail is denied and the death penalty is sought in this case.. The defendant is remanded to the custody of the police and is returned to jail until his trial. Court is adjourned.

"We'll have to come back in 2 days for Eddie and Tommy's court hearings," Jack told me, "to say nothing of the hearings for the other two caught in the hospital."

"I'll see what Ashley says," I told him.

As soon as we returned to the hospital and Jack was gone, Ashley and Michelle hurried into my room, closing and locking the door behind them. Ashley quickly placed a fussing Jessica into my arms, then got me back into bed.

"What did the judge say?" they both asked in unison.

"he denied bail and approved the death penalty," I said, feeding and calming Jessica.

"Good, and what about Eddie and Tommy?" they asked, again speaking as one.

"I have to go back the day after tomorrow," I told them, and then laughing, " what are you 2 anyway? Twins?"

"We'll keep you resting until then," Ashley said, smiling now as well.

"I think I'm going to need it," I said as Chris came in.

Ashley explained everything to Chris as he pulled over the third chair. He smiled, but he looked tired and preoccupied.

"Are you ok, Chris?" I asked.

"Yes. Everything you wanted is loaded in my car and ready to go when we do," he said. "And I got in touch with a real-estate agent and put the house on the market. They have to wait till the estate is sold, so it might take a while."

"Thanks, Chris," I said, breathing a sigh of relief and holding out my arms for him.

"No problem," he said. " and I found the pictures of your father Tara had hidden in the attic," he added, while turning away, still trying to hide his pain, as well as the tears in his eyes.

"it figures. She'd put them there," I said, again reaching out. "Robert wouldn't climb the ladder to go up there. He always claimed it scared him, and I know this hurts you too, so you don't have to hide it, Chris."

Chris sat with us all as long as Ashley allowed. Then, Michelle gently guided him from the room, very much still in tears, but as Ashley told him, I needed my rest. Everyone left, with Michelle promising to watch after Chris.

Jack arrived at exactly the same time 2 days later, but we could only leave after I had a bit of a time getting a fussy Jessica to go to sleep. We made it to the courthouse on time, with Judge Willis once again presiding.

"I already have some of your testimony on file from MR. Wilson's Hearing, so we'll get right to the point," he said. "Where did you first se Tommy and Eddie?"

"At my former home, on the night I was raped," I answered.

"Why were they there?" He asked.

"Robert had them there to ensure I did what he wanted," I answered.

"Did either of them touch you?" He asked.

"Eddie did, but I'm uncertain about Tommy," I answered.

"What did Eddie do to you?" He asked.

"He carried me upstairs, tied me to my bed and he, along with Robert, raped me," I answered him.

"Do you remember the rape?" He asked.

"No, not all of it. The last thing I fully remember was Eddie pulling his pants down before I was knocked out, but I now have some nasty flashbacks of it," I answered him truthfully.

"Who knocked you out?" He asked.

"I don't know for sure on that one." I told him.

"Thanks again," he said. " bail is denied, and court is adjourned."

By the time I returned to the hospital, everyone knew the courts verdict and were all ecstatic. There was an heir of celebration. I was returned to my room an helped into bed, and Jessica was brought in .

"Do you think you'd feel up to going home tomorrow?" Ashley asked, once Jessie was asleep.

"I think so," I said. "As long as you think I could, and its safe for the baby."

"Good. Then let's get you out of here," she said. "you've been here long enough."

The next day, Ashley, Jack, Mariah, and Michelle were all there to see me off. When I was dressed and ready, Mariah left the room and returned with a cart full of baby supplies.

"You guys didn't have to do this," I protested when I saw it.

"Sure we did," Ashley said. "And don't tell us you can't use them."

"I do have some bad news though," Jack said. "Robert wants Visitation of Jessica."

"We won't let him have it," Michelle said angrily. "We should file an order of protection."

"I already did, and the hearing is 5 days from now," Jack said.

"Ok. See you in 5 days," Chris said, as we headed for the car.

Once there, I was further surprised to see a bassinet, crib, car seat, and stroller waiting there. I hugged them all and we started the 2 and a half hour drive from rod Chester to buffalo, with Mark and Alison once again following.

"I already had your car brought to my house," Chris told me as we drove.

"Thanks," I said.

When We got home, we went straight to bed. I unpacked a few things the next day, but not many, since something told me not to get too comfortable where we were. When we returned to Rodchester we were both nervous and, when we drove up to the courthouse with Mark and Alison following, I knew we were in trouble. It was a different judge and she wasn't happy to see us in the least.

"Why have you filed a restraining order against Robert Wilson?" She asked, her voice filled with hostility.

"Because he's very abusive and I don't want him around me or my child," I said very simply, keeping my own hostility out of my voice.

"But, Isn't he also that child's father?" She asked.

"Yes, he is," I answered.

"Why shouldn't he be allowed to see his own daughter?" she asked.

"Because I don't want him abusing and traumatizing her as he did me," I told her.

"You allege he abused you," she said scornfully.

"I have medical proof that he beat and raped me," I said coldly.

"I want to see this proof right now," she demanded. Jack handed her the records wordlessly.

"Mr. Wilson feels that you living with Mr. Jones is dangerous for his daughter," she said, barely glancing at the papers in her hand. "So, you are ordered to move back here, with your protection order denied. Furthermore, you are also ordered to take his daughter for once a week visits on Saturdays. You must also be moved back here by this Saturday's visit."

"But that's only 4 days away," I protested.

"That's not my concern, now is it?" she said. "court is adjourned and you'll be fined in contempt if you disobey further.

At that moment, Mark stepped forward.

"What the fuck's this bullshit?" he asked, "the proof is right in fucking front of you! You'd put her and her child in that kind of danger? Exactly how much did that asshole pay you for this?"

"I'll ask you to stop it right now," was the response.

"Oh, and what'll you do if I don't?" Mark countered, "if you even think about slapping a fine on me, I'll see to it that this incident ends up plastered all over every front page in New York state! I don't think you want that, do you?"

"I'm not…" she began.

"You're not worried?" Mark inquired, "your face says otherwise. I think a lot might come out if an investigation got started. I don't think you want that, do you?"

"You really need to stop…" she began.

"Or what?" Mark snapped, "you'll put me in jail? I'd like to see you try. I'd have your ass exposed so fast it'd make your empty head spin!"

She made to respond, but Mark cut her off."

Just remember this," he said, "we're gonna fight this, and we just might win. If he pulls anything while jade's visiting him, I'll personally see to it that you're removed from your job."

"How will you do that," Jack asked."

Newspapers are a powerful tool in the right hands," Mark replied, "and I don't think this one has made very many friends over the years. Not if the bulk of her decisions have been like this one."

Chris, Mark, Alison, Jack, and I went to the restaurant around the corner to discuss our options.

"I can get you an apartment," Jack said.. "My father, Dale, rents some."

"But what will I pay for it with?" I asked.

"Your father left quite a bit of money when he died, furthermore, he left it in care of me," Chris said. "You can use that."

"Is there a minimum age on when I can access it?" I asked.

"Your father arranged it so I could choose when you needed to use it," Chris said.

"How did Tara not get a hold of it?" I asked incredulously.

"Chris Jr. hid it from her," he explained, "and since he left it in my name for you, she couldn't have touched it even if she knew it was there.

"What do we do?" I asked.

"I'll take care of it," Chris said.

"But there's also the little matter of why that bitch decided to let that fuckhole have another chance at Jade," Mark said, "I guess he swings a little more weight than I thought."

"I don't know that," Jack said, "but I intend to find out.

Everything was accomplished quickly, and I was moved into my new apartment by Friday, with the phone turned on that night. I didn't sleep very well, simply knowing that Jessica and I would be seeing Robert the next morning.

I was waiting in the visiting room, together with Mark and Alison, who had insisted on coming just in case Robert pulled anything, at exactly 10 a.m. when they led Robert in. We stared at each other for a long time before either of us spoke. Thanks to where Mark and Alison had placed themselves, Robert didn't even notice them.

"Would you like to hold her?" I finally asked to break the silence.

"No," he said shortly.

The mandated hour passed without either of us saying another word. When I left, he told me not to come back.

I Returned the next Saturday as I had been ordered, with Robert in a mindset I'd seen countless times before. He was completely pissed when they led him to the visitors room.

"I thought I told you not to fucking come back here!" He screamed at me.

"Please don't use that language in front of my daughter," I said coolly.

"She's not your fucking child. She's Tara's!" He screamed, "now get the fuck out of here and leave me in peace!"

"Tara gave up her parental rights, in case you forgot." I told him, my voice turning completely cold now.

"No she didn't, You little shit!" He screamed back.

"I'm not lying," I said coldly, holding a frightened, crying Jessica to my chest protectively.

"Let me the fuck out of here!" Robert screamed, pounding on the door.

"I can't do that, sir," the guard told him. "You have to spend at least an hour with your daughter."

"I said get me the fuck out of here! Robert Screamed and came straight at me, taking a swing at Jessie.

I reacted in seconds, pulling Jessie protectively down against my body and taking the blow across the side of my face and screaming out in fear as I did. The scream finally brought the guard into the small room, but that would be the last thing that guard would ever do. It seems the judge had also ordered that since Jessica was a baby, Robert be unhand-cuffed so he could hold her, and he'd now used that to his advantage.

"John Shane is a stupid lawyer, and I didn't want this fucking baby anyway!" Robert screamed, turning on the guard.

He grabbed the guard, angry he'd not let him out of the room, and began slamming his head against the wall. I began screaming for help, not caring if Robert reacted to me, because then he'd stop hurting the guard, and Jessica was now under the table where he couldn't see her.

"What the hell are you doing you stupid twat waffle!" Alison cried as Mark began to move toward Robert.

"Twat waffle?" I thought, "she must have heard that from Mark at some point."

Mark quickly made his way past me and charged at Robert. His head impacted with Robert's back, causing him to lose his balance momentarily. Robert turned, still holding the guard, and aimed a kick at Mark, who ducked out of the way, caught his foot, and attempted to take him off balance, but the guard's dead weight aided him in keeping his feet. By the time the door was unlocked and Robert was pulled off him, the guard's head was bloody and he was unconscious.

"Jesus Pumpkin Pie Christ at a fucked up shindig!" Mark cried from where he was standing, "what the hell kind of prison do you people run here where guards can get their brains bashed in by prisoners and nobody even pulls a fucking gun!"

"County Jail," one of the guards responded, as if this explained everything.

"Are you people trying to let him escape?" Mark asked, the expression on his face suggesting that the guard who had answered his question had the mentality of a slug, or possibly something even lower on the food chain.

"Maybe they are," Alison said from her place at the door, "after all, he wasn't even cuffed."

"Let's hear it for security," Mark said sarcastically.

"Are you ok?" Jack, Michelle, and Ashley all cried in Unison as they rushed into my cubical in the emergency room.

"Yes, fine. He simply lost it," I said.

"We're putting a police guard on you until the trial," Michelle said, and that's how I got to know her team.

"In my personal opinion," Mark said, "that guy needs to be put in a cage, not county jail. We've already found out how that one worked."

'I plan on doing my best to overturn that judge's decision," jack said.

"You may not need to fight very hard," Alison said, "I managed to get in to her chambers before we went for the visit today and I found some interesting things, to say the least."

"Like what?" Jack asked.

"Oh, like this stuff," Alison said, handing Jack a large folder, "it looks like Mark was right when he said she was paid off. I found several checks from Robert, as well as a lot of stuff that I suppose connects to other cases she was involved in."

As it turned out, Alison's findings were enough to have that particular judge removed from her job and the decision made in my case overturned. Also, a great many other decisions made by her, including several incidents of children being placed in abusive situations by her were taken care of.


	7. Chapter 7 other Worlds Than These

I returned to my apartment that evening, turned off the ringer on the phone, fed Jessica, and lay down on the twin bed Chris, Mark, and Alison had carried into the apartment the night I'd moved in.

As sleep took me, I reflected on just how quickly life could change. One moment you were going along, no problems evident, and the next, you were plunged into Hell.

My thoughts broke apart, and at first there was only darkness and silence, but then a sound reached me. It sounded almost, but not quite, like crickets, and the soft ringing of small bells. What was it leea had said at the end?

"The bells. The bells and the crickets. The winged people beneath the doubled suns ..."

I opened my eyes and saw soft white light, as if I were inside a cloud. I attempted to rise, but a small, cool hand touched my forehead.

"No," a voice said from above me, "you must rest now. you have a terrible sickness, but the Doctors are removing it. you mustn't move."

I looked in the direction of the voice and saw a young woman, dressed in white, with what appeared to be a veil over her head. Said veil was fringed with small bells that appeared to be grey, as if their color had faded.

"A Little Sister ..."

"This is definitely a dream," I thought, "but where'd I get it from."

"Rest now, Jade, daughter of Chris that was," the young woman said.

For a while, all was forgetfulness, but eventually I became aware of my surroundings again. A hand was gently tapping my arm as if to wake me from sleep.

"You must eat," said the young woman I'd seen before.

I tried to sit up, but the young woman apparently decided I needed help in that regard and placed a hand under my shoulders and guided me into a sitting position.

"Who are you?" I asked, "and where am I? Is this a dream?"

"If you prefer to think this a dream," the young woman said, smiling, "you may. I am Sister Jenna, and you are in my place of healing, Mihrél Elaehnin Lehña, the Place of Healing bells."

"This is definitely a dream," I said, allowing the woman known as Sister Jenna to feed me. The food in question appeared to be a variety of soup I'd never tasted before. Midway through the feeding process, Jenna noticed that a lock of her dark hair had escaped her veil. She flicked it back absently, as if she was used to that happening.

"Always escaping its confinement, that one," she said with a smile, "always wanting its own way."

"Why am I here?" I asked, deciding to follow this dream to the end.

"You are here to be healed," Jenna replied, "two to whom you mean much had you brought here. They said that if you died of your illness or it took your life in some other way, they could never forgive themselves."

"Which two?" I asked, unable to think of anyone at the moment.

"you'll learn that in time," Jenna answered, "but now you must rest while the Doctors do their work."

"Who are the Doctors?" I asked, "I've never seen anyone but you."

"It may not be wise to show you," Jenna responded, "some have an unfavorable reaction to them."

As I pondered this, I looked about at my surroundings. I was in a bed or cot, only one of many in a row along the wall of what appeared to be a huge tent composed of white silk. From the wall hung strings of small silver bells whose soft ringing had been one of the sounds I'd first heard on awakening, if you can awaken in a dream. I looked across to the other wall and saw an identical row of beds and identical strings of bells.

Looking further, I noticed that one of the beds on my side was occupied, but not by anything human. It was at that point that I decided beyond the shadow of a doubt that this had to be a dream. The occupant of the bed was a small, greenish-brown creature, which, if standing, would have measured no more than three feet in height. Its eyes were large and blue, its hands long, the fingers multi-jointed. The creature's body was somewhat rounded, its legs were somewhat short, its feet large like those of a bird.

"What is that?" I asked.

"You mean who," Jenna corrected gently.

"Her name is Iyana and she is near to death."

"What is she?" I asked, "I've never seen anything like her."

"She is a Miriana," Jenna told me, "a mere child of their kind. You can tell by her appearance."

"What's a Miriana?" I asked.

"you'll learn that in time," Jenna replied, "but first, you have a duty to one who depends upon you completely."

Jenna moved from the bed and returned in mere seconds, carrying Jessica, convincing me once again that I had to be dreaming.

"She needs feeding," Jenna said with a smile, "although I know not why you choose to feed her utilizing such things as I found in yon purse," where upon, she handed me first the baby and then my diaper bag.

Jessica had apparently just awakened. Her eyes seemed to be freshly opened, and she hadn't yet begun looking around at her surroundings. I removed a baby bottle from the diaper bag, followed by a can of formula, and then realized that I had nothing with which to mix the formula in question.

"I'm having, well, a problem," I said, looking at Jenna, "I don't have any water."

Jenna said nothing, but took the bottle from me and walked toward the entrance flap of the tent. She returned a short time later with the bottle filled with water.

"I need to heat it a little bit," I said, "Or else she won't take the bottle."

Jenna moved to the entrance flap again and returned, handed me the bottle, which was now warm to the touch, and smiled at me.

After Jessica was fed and changed, she'd given me an unexpected gift in her diaper half way through being fed, Jenna took her and placed her in what appeared to be a home made crib near to my bed.

"Can you tell me where we are?" I asked, "and how you got Jessica here?"

"Later," Jenna said, "rest now."

When I awoke again, Jenna was once again beside me.

"You seem stronger," she said, "mayhap you can walk about a bit."

She shook her head and the bells fringing her veil rang softly. I felt, for a moment, as if something were moving on me. Almost immediately after I became aware of the sensation, it was gone. I took Jenna's hand and she helped me up. I stood unsteadily at first, but I quickly gained strength and was able to take a few steps.

As I looked about from this new vantage point, I saw that the central aisle of the tent was bare earth except for circular arrangements of large white flowers around several beds, including the one in which I had lain.

"What are those?" I asked, indicating the flowers.

"The one who brought them here and planted them calls them boa-lilies," Jenna told me, "I know not what their actual name is, but it is as good a name as any, is it not?"

"I guess," I said, still unable to completely grasp what I was seeing.

I noticed that there was another arrangement of what Jenna had called boa-lilies in the central aisle, in the center of which bloomed a single wild rose. Guided by an impulse I didn't understand, I approached it and knelt before it. As I did, the rose nodded toward me, opening and revealing a glowing core that looked like a sun, no, many suns, galaxies, universes. A soft song reached my ears, reminding me, "a rose may sing," of something I'd heard said recently.

"Jade. You have come. Your healing is complete, your ka changed for the better. Your children are safe. Fear not."

I reached one of my hands forward and gently touched the rose. A huge amount of power seemed to enter my body and I began to fall. Jenna grasped my shoulder and helped me maintain my balance.

I stood with some difficulty and accompanied Jenna toward the light I could see coming into the tent, light that looked like strong daylight.

Jenna led me to the entrance flap of the tent, beyond which was a garden unlike any I'd ever seen before. Plants impossible to describe grew in every direction except one. Near to the tent was a pool surrounded by what appeared to be a living version of the bedding I'd been lying on in the tent. The pool was fed by a spring that flowed directly out of an opening in a wall composed of multi-colored stone. A set of steps ascended from a point in the wall about twenty feet from me. Beyond them was a continuation of the garden.

In the sky above me were two suns, their light too bright to look at over long. As I looked away from them and back toward the gardens, I saw something moving, something that looked, at first glance, like a bird of enormous size, but as it got closer, I noticed that although it had wings and feathers crowning its head, it wasn't a bird. Its skin was a bright golden color, it wore what appeared to be a cloak made of the same stuff as the bedding in the tent, its face was that of an intelligent creature, and its eyes appeared to be filled with so much knowledge that I felt like a child Jessica's age by comparison.

"Ah, she's awake," the being said once it had descended the steps and stood by us. Its voice was somewhat bird-like, but at the same time not. It was tinged with an accent that made the words sound almost musical.

"Who...?" I began, but the being replied before I'd finished phrasing the question.

"I am Yuon," it said, "and it brings me joy to see you up and about."

"What is this place?" I asked.

"You are in my gardens," Yuon said, her wings fluttering a bit, probably to maintain her balance, "and you are on the world of Miria."

"Miria?" I asked, more than willing to once again believe I was dreaming.

"That isn't important now," Yuon said, "but it is important that you don't give up, no matter what. I know you have experienced much that is painful to you, but you must not give in to despair."

"But my sister's dead," I said, "my Mother hates the sight of me, my stepfather's waiting to be put on trial for murder, my entire past may be twisted and used against me..."

"You are not alone, Jade," Yuon said, "no matter how alone you sometimes feel, you are not. There are those who care for you, those who have your interests at heart, and not just for their own ends."

"I know," I said, "but sometimes it's just so hard."

"I know," Yuon replied, stepping forward and embracing me, her wings softly rubbing my back.

"Many have suffered," she said, "and to each, his or her own suffering seems the greatest. I have lived long, longer even than most of my kind. I've seen wise rulers overthrown and fools put up in their places. I've seen wars on worlds so ancient as to make Earth and its civilization seem newly born. I've seen the deaths of great cultures and decadent remnants rise to take their places, and still I live."

At this point, a tear fell from the corner of her eye.

'still I live," she said, "but it's not all sadness and pain. All of us have someone, even if we don't always know it."

"But there doesn't seem to be any easy way out for me," I said, "Robert wants me dead and my own mother does too. I'm carrying two babies I didn't plan on having, and the daughter I already have and I are both in danger."

"you'll be safe," Yuon said, no doubt evident in her voice, "and there are those who will see to it that you remain so."

After a short time, Jenna led me back toward the tent, after picking a small, multi-colored flower and braiding it into my hair.

As I lay back down on the bed, I felt everything starting to fade as I once again went off to sleep. The sound of the crickets and the bells followed me down, faded, were gone.

I floated in what seemed to be starlight, while around me, a story played itself out, as if to keep my mind alert. I'd heard the story told by Mark, not to leea, but to Alison. Such a story wouldn't have been good for leea to hear, at least not till she'd reached her teens, which would never happen now.

According to legend, a wise old king once passed on into the outside world of infinite darkness, and before he died, he advised his son and heir to rule his subjects with wisdom, saying, "Everything you see is yours to command. But be advised that better slaves are those who still believe they taste some freedom. Play the tirant, but you must inspire love as well as fear." But his son chose to ignore his father's advice, and demanded that his subjects subsume their wills to his own. Even the animals were ordered to obey their king's commands. Soon all in the kingdom lived in perfect harmony, according to the whims of their lord.

Though the people and the animals obeyed the King's whims without question, he still was not content. At his command, the waves, the wind, and even Time itself were brought to heel. But music refused to be disciplined or constrained, and in his rage, the King ordered it banished from his kingdom forever, into the outside world of infinite darkness.

When the foolish King banished music from his land, life became a drab thing with no harmony or rhythm. The slaves could not sing their troubles away, the torturers were haunted by their victims' silence, and even the King's wives had no love in their voices. Finally, the King pardoned music, but it didn't return, nor did the messengers he dispatched into the outside world of infinite darkness. The King was thus forced to make the journey himself by slowly draining the blood from his body, and as he lay halfway between life and death, he begged the music to return to his land, saying, I have been a foolish man! I should have inspired love as well as fear. Please, let the music play again. All its songs, its symphonies, its sundry choral works. Please, give my world a reason to live!"

When the foolish King awoke, he found that music had returned to his kingdom, a savage, bitter, and violent music that tore the throats out of his subjects as they sang. As the birds fell dead from the sky and the waves crashed and died on the shore, the music destroyed the king's subjects, his wife and son last of all. When the king asked why, the music replied, "Because we have been to the outside world. We have seen the infinite darkness. And we have learned that we need not only inspire love, but fear." And so the music killed the King and became the new and dreadful lord of the entire world.

When I once again awoke, it was to the sound of Jessica crying. I sat up and made to rise from the bed, but Jenna's hand took mine and gave me extra support before any type of accident could happen. I fed and changed Jessica and looked down the row of beds again. Iyana, the Miriana, was still there, moving a bit in her sleep. Further down on the opposite side of the tent from where I was, I saw another form, totally wrapped in what appeared to be some sort of pinkish blanket. The form wasn't lying flat on the bed, however. He, she, or it, whatever it was, was suspended above the bed by a crisscrossing webwork of what appeared to be straps made of the same material that made up the bedding.

"Hanging suspended ..."

"Who or what is that?" I asked.

"Someone you must see," Jenna said, "someone whose kah it was to live, even though it appeared that their kah was to die."

Jenna led me into the central aisle and toward the bed in which the form slept. When we reached the bed, I noticed that the blanket wrapping the person or Miriana in the bed appeared to be moving slightly. Jenna gently reached out and touched the blanket, which, with a soft cooing sound, partially moved, under its own power, revealing the face it had hither-to hidden.

"Leea," I whispered. I'd felt like crying out with joy, but the sight of her, clearly alive, had taken my breath away.

"Ai," Jenna said with a nod, "your sister. She was brought here before she was too far gone in death, before the Doctors would have been unable to take it back."

"How ...?" I asked, still hardly able to speak.

"Yuon," Jenna said, "she took her from your hospital's deadhouse and brought her here."

"She was the body snatcher?" I asked in disbelief.

"Ai," Jenna replied, not quite knowing what a body snatcher could be. The look on her face suggested that one would probably be some form of horrible monster.

"She lives," Jenna said, "but it was necessary for Yuon to move her child to another carrier."

"Another carrier?" I asked.

"And there was only one possible carrier," Jenna continued.

"you mean me, don't you?" I asked.

"You were already carrying two," Jenna told me, "and Miriana medical science is centuries ahead of your world's. However, the sickness you and your sister were afflicted with was impossible to remove by the means of Yuon's sciences, and death cannot be taken back by it either. The Doctors were necessary in those cases."

"Who are the Doctors?" I asked again.

"I believe you are ready to see them," Jenna answered, "I ask you, however, not to scream."

I wondered why Jenna would say such a thing, but at the next moment, that question was driven from my mind. She shook her head and the bells attached to her veil rang softly. As she did, something moved on Leeah, something that looked like a group of small black insects twice the size of ants. Each of them had two pairs of butterfly-like wings which fluttered slightly, as Yuon's wings had done. Their rear legs were in motion, rubbing together like those of crickets. Now I knew the source of the cricket-like song I'd heard ever since I first had awakened in Jenna's care.

"Those are the Doctors?" I asked, not feeling like screaming, "they remove sickness and injury?"

"Ai," Jenna replied, "that is what they were made to do."

I reached out and took Leeah's hand, still unable to believe completely that she was alive, but I felt the warm pulse of life within her. Her eyes opened and she looked up at me.

"Jade?" she whispered, "what are you doing here? Are you dead too?"

"Neither of you are dead," Jenna said softly, bending and planting a soft kiss on Leeah's cheek, "you are being made well. There is still much to heal in you though. Rest, little one. As you can see, your sister is here and safe. Sleep now. Sleep and forget a while your pain and fear. Let no dreams of evil trouble your rest."

Leeah's eyes closed and she slept again, a smile on her face, the first smile I'd seen there in what felt like forever.

"Now you, also, must rest," Jenna said, "soon it will be necessary for you to wake for a longer time. Your healing is complete, but your strength is not yet completely recovered."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I can not tell you all," Jenna said, "for I do not know all. I will tell you what I may, however. You and your sister are special, extremely so. Leea possesses The Touch, more powerfully than all I have encountered save one. You, Jade, are what some would call a natural teleport. That is how you came to be in my care."

"Teleport?" I asked.

"Ai," Jenna replied, "has there never been a time in your past in which you found yourself in a place you wished to be in?"

"That was only a dream," I answered, recalling the time I'd seemed to find myself in Chris's house one night, shortly after Robert had first married Tara.

"That was no dream," Jenna informed me, "the power has lain dorment within you for years, but now it has awakened fully. Mayhap its awakening is due to the harm you experienced, both physically and otherwise. You sought me out, even though you knew not of my existence, and Yuon aided your power and insured your safe arival. 

"Why are you and Yuon so interested in weather or not Leea and I live?" I asked.

"Because," Jenna replied, "it is my joy, and that of the Doctors, to heal the hurts of others. That is why they sing. It is Yuon's kah, or destiny, if you will, to preserve the Tower and the beams which hold it in place, and to oppose he of The Red, he whom you may know as the Crimson King."

At this, I started violently.

"Ai," Jenna said, noticing my expression, "he is very real, very powerful, and very dangerous. He seaks the ruin of all. Mayhap you know the old verse from my world? The King is in his Tower, eating bred and honey, the Breakers in the basement, making all the money?"

I started again, not knowing how Jenna could know what I'd either thought or seen in dreams.

"The king seaks your death, and that of your sister," Jenna continued, placing a hand on my shoulder, "you, because you are a powerful teleport, Leea, because she is the opposite of a Breaker. Some call such beings Fixers. The King has been gathering Breakers over the last two centuries, whilst Fixers have been appearing to counter his efforts."

"Breakers?" I asked, "Fixers?" What's this all about?"

"At the center of all realities," Jenna explained, "there is a tower. Some refer to it as the Dark Tower, others by other names. The tower is held in place by six beams, or was. Three of those beams have already been broken, and it is those the King calls Breakers who are responsible. Fixers, on the other hand, counter the Breakers' power, empowering the beams and strengthening them. When the King locates such a being, he utilizes agents in the world from which the Fixer originates, to destroy them. Such a destruction was narrowly avoided in your world, would not have been had Yuon not seen the danger and removed Leea's body from your hospital's deadhouse and brought her here."

"Then Robert ..." I began.

"He who distressed you and Leea is an agent of the King," Jenna said, "as were the lowlings who followed him. The King saw the danger posed by Leea early in her life, and likewise, saw the danger to his plans posed by you. He therefore sought to destroy you both. If not physically, then he sought to break your spirits."

"My God," I breathed.

"But now you must rest," Jenna said, "mayhap I have kept you too long in conversation."

I allowed Jenna to lead me back to my bed and aid me in lying down. As I slipped once again into sleep, I thought I heard low voices speaking, but it could as easily have been a dream.


End file.
